Changing Seaweed Brain
by AnonymousWriter201
Summary: Percy and Annabeth used to be best friends for 6 years until Annabeth moves away, leaving Percy alone until, 6 years later, her family moves back to New York. There, she finds that Percy's changed and that he's not the Seaweed Brain she's come to love. Can Annabeth really change Percy or is he far too gone?
1. Prologue

_Full Summary: Percy and Annabeth used to be friends. Annabeth and Percy used to care for each other. Percy and Annabeth used to have each other's backs. Annabeth and Percy used to love each other. They 'used' to a lot. But then one day, Annabeth moves and Percy's left to deal with the heartbreak alone. He's a player, he's abused, and he's worried everyone who cares about him over the only girl who's ever left him._

 _Until she comes back, junior year to Goode, where she realizes her Seaweed Brain isn't who he is anymore. Can Annabeth change him, or is he already too far gone to be helped?_

 **This is edited and reuploaded. Thanks so much for everyone sticking around this story even when I haven't updated it in, like, a year. LIKE SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU, EVERYONE!**

 **This edit, while I added some, still has the basically the same scenes in it. I just added some more stuff. However, the other chapters will have new information. It will have new scenes added and some people's relationship (** cough cough **Annabeth and Percy** cough cough **who else would I be talking about?) will not develop as quickly as it did in the older version.**

 **So, to summarize, you should probably read the edited chapters. Especially if you've forgotten as much as I have while rewriting.**

 **ANYWAYS, ON WITH THE STORY.**

 **DISCLAIMER: EVERY PJO/HOO CHARACTERS ARE ALL RICKS, SADLY I CAN'T KIDNAP THEM. SUPER SAD. ANYWAYS THERE ARE SOME MADE UP PEEPS HERE THAT IVE MADE SO THERE MINE EVEN IF I DON'T WANT THEM. WHATEVS. STORY NOW!**

 **Prologue**

 _Percy_

The sound of the heels clicking and boxes shuffling could be heard from the neighbor's house but he, Perseus Jackson, didn't once look out his window, or gaze at the beautiful blonde who would be leaving him. Instead, he sat in his room and did nothing.

His best friend was leaving him, and there was nothing he could do.

The moving van was already here and their stuff was packed. Percy couldn't help but hate the workers for taking away all of their cherished memories, couldn't help but hate his best friend, Annabeth Chase, for not telling him this, for not preparing him for their last goodbye. He wanted to scream at them, cuss them out with the bad language he had learned from his father, but decided against it as he watched the movers continue to move their stuff - pristine furniture, hefty books, and everything else that ever made up the Chase family.

Percy would surely miss the Chase family, that was for sure. They managed to worm their way into his heart like no one else had so now, knowing they were leaving, only made him feel even more lost. He wasn't sure what he would do without Annabeth, what he would do without her witty comments or her feisty personality. Without her hidden kindness and her, albeit embarrassing, loyalty towards him, the most bullied kid in their grade. He wonders now what he would do without her soft-spoken words of encouragement, her level-headed voice, her thoughtfulness, the way he always wanted to listen to what she said even if it was some boring lesson on architecture. How happy she was, how happy she made him feel.

He would miss her; he would miss her a lot.

Missing her only makes him feel angrier, so when a familiar knock resounds in their house, he freezes.

Percy wants to throw something at it – maybe a lamp or a chair he doesn't know – as he sighs and walks to the door. He may have felt mad, devastated even, but he knows even more that he would regret it if he never got to say goodbye.

Stretching his limbs, he pulls open the door, letting it swing back as he makes out the familiar gray-eyed beauty he met six years ago. He ignores the flutter in his heart at the sight of her, how beautiful she looked. It wasn't like his feelings mattered anymore. She was never going to be around to him to tell her.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," she says and he gives her a goofy smile as always, forgetting for a second he has to be mad at her.

"Hey Wise Girl," he responds, walking outside, and closing the door behind him. It's around midday when the Chases' are getting ready to go, and his heart plummets when he sees the moving truck behind Annabeth's head. Maybe somewhere in the back of his mind, he hadn't fully realized how she was moving, how she was _actually_ moving, and how it wasn't some trick or bad nightmare. But now, now that he's standing out in the sun with the love of his life and a moving truck taking her away, he understands that she's leaving. He's hit with a wave of emotions, ones that he can't decipher, as he glares at the moving truck. Annabeth, seeing his anger, gives him a bitter smile.

"That's the truck," she says distractedly, almost saying it to herself than to Percy. She turns towards him with a soft smile on her face. "I got something for you," she says teasingly, as she knows she's always been horrible with presents.

A genuine smile graces Percy's lips. "I got something for you too. Want to come in?"

She nervously looks behind her before looking back at him. "I don't see why not," she answers and steps inside his house.

The faded blue walls were peeling, the sloppily placed chairs were in a mess, and Percy's pictures over the years were starting to be crooked, but Annabeth still smiled. "Just like home," she says absentmindedly and Percy smiles before ushering her up the wooden stairs.

She follows him, tracing the walls lightly with her fingers as if to say goodbye and Percy smiles wistfully as he watches her do this, pained by the fact that this would be the last time she ever stepped into his house.

It felt as if she was leaving him, not because of Annalise's job, but because she wanted too. And after his father had left with no reason at all, the situation's were oddly linking up.

But he chose to wave this off, knowing that his father and Annabeth were two completely different people. Annabeth, after all, was his best friend and had been there through the circus act that was Percy Jackson. She hadn't left him in all the other moments he thought she would, and had managed to stay even when he screwed up. She was there for him, and he was there for her. There was nothing that could change that. They would call, they would text whenever they got phones, they would use that website his mom told him about. They would do everything in their power to stay connected even when life was pulling them apart.

Before they could enter his room, Annabeth stops him. He gives her a confused look as she sighs, shifting uncomfortably between her feet.

"I'm sorry," she says in a low voice, despite there not being anyone around them. "I'm sorry that I never told you I was leaving."

"It's okay," he says, "I'm not mad." At least, he doesn't _think_ he is.

"Still," Annabeth says, looking down as if trying to hide from her shame. "I never even told you. Your mom had to do it for me."

The memory fizzles into his mind at the mention. The look his mother gave him when she saw him. The way her lips quivered, her misty eyes shimmering when looking into the light. The way she had grabbed for his arms and given him a tight squeeze as if she was making sure he was steady before giving him the news. Like, she knew that he would need someone to stabilize him for when she told him.

She had been right, of course. As soon as she said the words, he had needed her to hold him in his arms and let him know that everything would be alright even if they weren't.

He smiles now when he looks into her guilty eyes. He knows how sorry she is, how terrible she must be feeling. He's not even sure himself; if his mom was getting a new job, if he could look her in the eye and tell her the news. So instead, he clasps her hand in his and gives it a tight squeeze, letting her know that it's okay, it's alright, that he would always be there for her without having to say anything.

She leans into the touch, a small smile brushing against her lips before she looks down at her feet. "I just want you to know how sorry I am."

"Is that the real reason you bought me a present," he teases, and she smiles, a genuine smile, before shrugging her shoulders.

"Maybe," she informs him, and before he can comment, she's already turning the knob and entering his room.

Percy knew Annabeth had been to his room, but he still loved the way she grew overly excited whenever she entered it, as if every time she came, it was the first time she was ever seeing it. He loved that about Annabeth, each time she came into his room, she would always find something new and unique about it that she hadn't seen before. She thought of that stuff as if she thought of a person; every being was so complex that you had to see them in all the different lights to really get to know that person. He likes the way she thinks.

He never, of course, told her how he had moved something around each time just so she would think she was oh-so-clever, when in fact, it had been his doing all along.

He realizes that he may never get to tell her that, never get to see her eyes light up in amusement or see her face blush in embarrassment, and the thought pains him even more, so he pushes past it and instead walks towards her as she sits on his blue chair.

The room was rather tiny with small fishes painted on the walls of the freshly sea-green color. His room was barely different than last time, with only a few differences here and there. His action figures were still there on his nightstand, but instead of Pokémon cards and such, Annabeth's present was wrapped tediously with bright blue packaging. Annabeth slightly chuckled as she looked at it. "Why must it always be blue?" she asks him playfully, and Percy grins.

"Because blue is the best!"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "I beg to differ."

"You're just jealous."

She raised an eyebrow, utterly confused. "Of who?"

"Wow," he says, rolling his eyes, "And I thought you were the Wise Girl."

She huffed, grabbing her present off the table. "Well, only a Seaweed Brain would still fear heights!"

"Hey," he yelled in mock annoyance. "Heights are scary!"

"They are not."

He shrugs. "Well, it beats fearing spiders."

The twelve-year-old girl immediately blushes, making him look triumphant.

"Whatever," she says, her cheeks still tinted pink. She grabs her bag and shoves it towards Percy. "Open it," she says and he smiles.

He expects some book that Annabeth probably got but instead, to his surprise, it's a collage. "What's this," he asks her, fiddling with the edges.

"It's a collage, dummy," she says, pointing to the object in his hands. "It's like a poster except all the pictures is of us so you never have to forget me!"

He looks at it, looks at the gold font and the blue paper. He looks and he looks and he looks and just when he's about to give up, say he's too stupid to see the importance of the collage, it all clicks into his mind. He sees it, he really sees it. The different pictures of all of the memories that made up their friendship. Annabeth even placed some captions on the bottom, and Percy smiles thinking back to all of these moments. The time they went on their first roller coaster, to the time when they sat outside all night in the rain so that they didn't have to go to school the next day, the time when Percy taught Annabeth how to play games on his DS, or the time when he first met Annabeth because of their mother reading club they had both been invited too.

The time when they were in his house playing hide and seek, or out at Annabeth's house, making snowmen and snow angels, challenging each other to see who's was better. He wishes he was back at her house, weaving her hair together with his fingers as she read _Harry Potter_ to him for the first time.

All of their first's like the first time Annabeth tried a blue cookie and had this huge grin on her face that made Percy's heart race. The first time Percy climbed a tree and his mom got him his favorite blue pancakes from Blackjacks. The first time Percy finally got an A on his English quiz and he was so happy he gave Annabeth a kiss on the cheek, grinning widely for the rest of the school day.

He now holds the collage - a diary of their friendship - out in the air, cautiously, knowing that all of the memories that are here, right here, are fragile and precious. It's almost as if he knows that if he drops it, the memories will shatter around them, their world will collapse, and the only thing left of their diary of friendship would be themselves, lost in a never-ending storm of chaos, stuck across a barrier they wouldn't be able to cross.

So he touches it lovingly, almost petting it, before closing it around his heart like a shield.

"Thank you," he breathes out in almost a whisper, too stunned to say anything else as he takes in the ragged cut-ups of the pictures, the background and the smiles and laughter that they shared. He feels a tear dribble down his face but he doesn't do anything as a bittersweet smile appears on his face, memories of these scenarios occurring.

He wishes he was back in those moments. He wishes he was back in time instead of being here, right now, saying goodbye to the last person he wanted to say that too.

It's Annabeth who pulls him out of his trance as she walks over to him, wiping away the tears and giving one of her own wistful smiles. "You're welcome," she breathes back and that's when he realizes how close they are to each other. Her lips are mere inches away from his, their bodies mere centimeters apart.

And suddenly, he wants to kiss her.

He isn't really sure he knows how to kiss. What's the right angle? What does one do when they lock lips for the first time? No one at school ever gives you a lesson on how to kiss someone, that's for sure. He isn't a master kisser or whatever. He was twelve, was he supposed to be? All he knows is that he wants to kiss her, really badly. He wants to do that thing they do in the movies where they run their hands through each other's hair. He just wants to be there for her. He wants to hold her and protect her and comfort her and lock her away from her step-mother, so she never has to leave him.

If it was to go to the ends of the world for her, he would.

If it was to leave with her, he would.

If he could be selfish with her and force her to stay, he would.

All these emotions cloud his judgment and for a second, for one, pain-staking second, he thinks of closing the distance between them. He thinks of just taking a chance to be with the girl he's had a crush on for years, the girl he thinks too much about, the girl that's always been there for him even when he didn't deserve it. He thinks about the fact that they'll never see each other again after today, that it's just one kiss and one friend and one memory in a sea of memories. He thinks of the fact that he'll never see her beautiful face or her stormy gray eyes that light up whenever she's happy. How unimaginable his life is without her. God, just how much he couldn't get enough of her.

He's going to miss her, forever and ever and ever, because she was his first love and she would always be the one he loved. And he didn't want to let her go so soon when he was just starting to feel something pretty, something beautiful and magical and earth-shatteringly brilliant.

But he can't be selfish with her. And maybe in his twelve-year-old mind, he doesn't understand it yet, but eventually, he will finally understand everything, and that's when he'll truly cry for Annabeth Chase, for _his_ Annabeth Chase, because he's in love with her.

He will always, always, always, be in love with the girl with the stormy gray eyes.

But he doesn't understand that now so instead he pulls away - he figures its because he doesn't want to embarrass himself - and looks at anything but her. He scratches his head. "Can I hang this up," he asks.

"Of course," Annabeth says, and she shows him how to do it perfectly, making sure he understands everything. He's not listening though, too busy seeing the way she explains it - her hands waving viciously around, the way she methodically shos him each and every step - and he can't help but think that this and everything else will always be Annabeth Chase, the Annabeth Chase he knew. How this part makes up the whole of who she was and how he would never get tired of seeing every new section of her.

When she's finished explaining, she looks at him. "Did you get that?"

Even though he barely listened, he rolls his eyes playfully, shoving her lightly away before grabbing the collage in his hands. "Of course, Wise Girl." He winks. "I know everything."

"And yet you're called Seaweed Brain," she says teasingly and he playfully glares at her.

"Shut up," he says. She only laughs.

Suddenly, the two hear a door opening before a familiar voice yells from downstairs. "Annabeth," Annalise calls, her voice loud and crisp. "We need to go now!"

Annabeth looks down at her gift and then at me, worried.

"Don't worry, open it whenever you get the chance." He secretly wanted to see what she thought of it, but he knew they wouldn't have enough time. They never had enough time anymore.

"Okay," she says, stuffing it in her pockets before turning away.

Before she can though he gently grabs her wrist and slips his hands into hers, letting her know he's there, he's always going to be there, just like they always do, but then she pulls her hand out of his and looks at him, tears streaming down her face.

"Not anymore," she says, almost as if she can hear his thoughts, before walking through his door and closing it softly behind her.

It's like she's already decided to cut ties with the boy she loves, to break the connection between them and let their diary of memories rip in front of them.

And that's when he begins to cry.

 **Even though this chapter is edited, I read it over like twice, so please tell me if there are any spelling mistakes. THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH THIS STORY AGAIN AND I CAN'T WAIT TO CONTINUE IT. Know that you should probs read the updates because some stuff is going to change and be a little different than the old version.**

 **One thing I did not anticipate with editing (since I don't edit a lot… haha, yeah, I know I'm terrible) was that it takes literally forever for me! So you might get one edited chapter per day or something (though technically this prologue is a lot longer than some of the others so maybe I'll get more done on some days, idk). But I just can't thank you guys enough, you are awesome, and I love you all so much!**

 **P.S. let me know if you see any mistakes. I tried not to gloss over on anything, but sometimes people miss things so please let me know! SORRY THIS CAME SO LATE! My computer's had major problems for the last couple of weeks because of the** amount **of viruses on them** soooooo **yeah, fun stuff. Anyways, thank you all so much and see ya in the next update! WILL DEFINITELY BE COMING SOONER THAN THIS ONE I PROMISE!**


	2. Chapter 1: Reunion

**HEY HEY HEY PEOPLE! Welcome back to another chapter of this story! (I really hate the title of this story since it was kind of a last-ditch effort and the title kinda feels really stupid and childish). ANYWAYS OMG PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKED AND READ IT! OMG THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR YOU GUYS! I literally sat at my desk and wanted to cry because you guys are so amazing! (I couldn't stop rereading them, there were so many! I didn't even think anyone would read this!) Anyways, I'm sorry if this isn't that good or anything or confusing, I'll try to answer all the comments as best I can. Ummmm usually when I see people liking my story I get all really anxious that people won't like the next one, or that it wouldn't be that great so I'm sorry if that's what happens! I'm not a very good writer despite my love and passion for it. I figure that passion and talent are two things. They can't survive without each other because someone may have the talent for something, but be lacking the passion and the same vice versa. They can be put in the same equation but without both of those you can't really go far, and trust me, my talent for writing is minimal. BUT I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE FAITH IN ME AND STUFF AND ILL TRY TO UPDATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Before we start though, let me just give a shout out to all those who commented and then we can begin!**

 **THANK YOU TO:**

 **Blue Pineapples,**

 **. .435,**

 **Paramedics,**

 **ayepercabeth,**

 **Alech14,**

 **And Guest! (So, I'm guessing since you're a guest, I can't type a message back to you? I don't know, I'm very new to this site so if anyone could help me, that would be fantastic!)**

 **THANK YOU, GUYS, SO MUCH! (This took me forever to post because I had no idea how to get the second chapter up. Thank God for Google!)**

 **Now let's get back to the story!**

Chapter 2: Reunion

Annabeth

Annabeth Chase never thought she would see the roaring, busy streets of New York again until she was safely off the rickety plane, with her purse and suitcase at her side. She never thought she would see her old home, gazing upwards at her, almost jeering at her for being gone for so long. She never though that she would get to see some kids she had known back then, growing up even more and she never thought that some of those growing kids had remembered her.

She never thought she would get to see all this ever again except for in the movies or in the books, never see it for real, until now. Until now when she's standing in Manhattan, New York with a family she didn't belong in.

Her father, who had unloaded the car just now, had gestured to the two-story house Annalise, her step-mother, had pointed out.

Annabeth shuddered at the horrific name: Annalise. What an unfortunate name for an unfortunate soul.

Truth be told, Annabeth didn't hate the name. In fact, she used most of her pent-up anger insulting the name when at first, Annabeth couldn't help but feel a sense of elegance when the name was spoken. The name depicted the elegance in the way she talked, in the way she laughed and in the way, she cried. She was beautiful; and anyone with eyes could see that.

But she wasn't so beautiful on the inside. Not after meeting Annabeth, at least. Her luscious, pink lips turned from a large, giddy smile to a tight, turned down frown, and her playful banter soon turned into stale, insults. One night, when she thought Annabeth had been sleeping, she had even heard Annalise talking about her behind her back.

" _She'll never be good enough," Annalise's words pierced through the hollow air as Annabeth had heard her shout to her father. "She's barely even apart of this family, Frederick." Annabeth's heart dropped as tears brimmed her eyes. She bit her lip, trying to keep the tantalizing words out of her head. A tear falls slowly, and she quickly swipes it away. She can almost feel them coming, almost how feel when you know bile is coming, and she clamps her teeth harder on her lips to make sure that the tears don't start falling, one after the other._

 _She can hear a defeated sigh from downstairs, and the hollow way Frederick's voice sounds when he says the next line. "I know, Annalise. Sometimes I'm not sure why we even keep her around."_

The next day they pretended like nothing had happened, like they hadn't said anything, but she knew differently. And though she wanted to so badly, she decided against telling them what she had heard. It was too much for her to bear; to know her own family never wanted her. It was too much to bear for her to even think about it and so she pushed it to the back of her mind, hoping she'll forget it.

But she doesn't think she ever will.

It was right before the move; right before disaster struck the Chase family and everything seemed to fall apart. Not like things hadn't been falling apart. Just that it was easier to pretend like her world was falling apart with debris falling around her. She could just lay down on the ripped-up couch, and gaze around the mess her life was, watching as the buildings crumbled around her and the ceilings fell under the weight of the world and the people she cared for were crushed under glass that stretched miles and miles from the unwavering cloudy sky. She could almost make out the sun, shining behind the sturdy clouds and the milky blue haze of the sky, but it quickly hid away, too scared to share the hope that Annabeth should've been feeling.

Her world was far too gone for her to even notice. She only registered it when Annalise had barged into Annabeth's room, picked up a suitcase and threw it onto her bed.

"What the hell," Annabeth asked, sitting rigid in her seat. Annalise emotionally abused her with all the rude comments, and the snide remarks, but she never thought it would get to physical abuse. Surely her father would stop it, though for some reason didn't believe him.

Annalise threw some more clothes in Annabeth's face, glaring at her as if she was the reason for the melting of the world and the crumbling of the moon. "Pack your things," she says hurriedly before reaching towards Annabeth's door. "We're leaving."

" _What_ ," Annabeth asks, confused, but Annalise doesn't respond as she slams the door in her face. Annabeth barely has time to flinch as races to clean her clothes off and pack it into the small, purple suitcase. One thing she knows about her step-mother through trial and error: never go against what she's saying. Even if its complete ludicrous.

She still didn't know why they were back to New York after so long, but she couldn't help but miss it. The skyscrapers and the beeping of the cars and trucks, about the subways and the small stores that seemed homier then her own home.

They always said that home was where your heart was, and Annabeth had always had a longing ever since the day she left.

Annabeth missed New York because this was her home. This was where her heart belonged.

She suddenly wonders what her best friend, Percy is doing right now. She stiffens upon hearing that name. She hadn't thought of Percy for the last five years, she had made a promise that she would never think about him again, that she would lock up her past and keep it safely hidden behind her masks and even the ones who looked beyond her mask.

But now, as she fingered the owl necklace with the initials AC placed on them, the one he gave her the day that she left, she can't help but feel saddened by his presence, or lack thereof his presence. She has the urge to walk over to his house like old times and knock three times on the door – that's how Percy knew it was always her – and wrap her arms around him, lie down next to him on his comfortable mattress and just tell each other everything, and watch the stars twinkle in the moonlight until they both fell asleep, snuggling next to each other to try to keep warm.

Or so they would tell each other.

Her twin step-brothers, Bobby, and Mathew, got out of the car and immediately clutched Annabeth's arms as her father took out his keys and stuck them into the keyhole, brandishing his suitcase almost worriedly. She heard her father curse to himself as he dropped the keys from his shaking hands, his breaths turning into sharp intakes.

"Here, let me help you," Annabeth says, shaking Bobby and Mathew away from her arms as she scurries over towards her panicked dad. He gives the keys to her after picking them off the ground, walking backwards with ease to give her enough space to work.

She gets the key into the hole, hearing a clicking noise before opening the door slightly so the boys can rush in. When she turns to her father, he gives her a grateful smile. "Thanks sweetie," he says, rushing past her but not before she stops him.

"Are you okay," she asks him, eyeing him with a calculating look on her face. "You seem kinda nervous."

"Me? Nah, I'm just nervous to see all the old friends," Frederick responds lightly, but she can hear the pain in his voice.

"Something's wrong," she says pointedly, her voice filled with sincerity.

He kisses her forehead instead, and gives her a warm smile. "Don't worry about it sweetie." He walks past her into the house, muttering more to himself than her, "everything's fine."

Annabeth walked into the two-story house, looking at the blank interior of the house. It looked as if no one had ever lived here; it was almost as empty as Annabeth's heart.

Upon first entering the house, she finds that the dining room is as crisp as ever with a wooden table in the center and eight chairs circling around the table. There's a large window gaping out into the horizons but Annabeth ignores it as she moves towards the stairs on the left of her, marveling over the beautiful work they did with the pristine, dark wooden stairs. On the right of her is the kitchen where her step-mother is in, currently working on the dinner plans. Annabeth knows she isn't allowed on the dinner after the fight on the plane, and so she sighs when she hears her stomach growling. She pointedly ignores it as she moves towards the living room, where the moving van helpers are just now placing their leather couches and beat-up television. Annabeth quickly walks up the stairs to reach the upstairs where she finds her room. It's already labeled Annabeth' as she opens it, peeking her tan face into the room. The white walls somehow feel calming and her windows have a perfect view of the house's brick wall next door. Her bed feels soft and welcoming as she envelops herself in the bed and lays down, feeling content in the warm rushing feeling she gets.

Annabeth realizes her jet-lag is making her even more tired than she wished to be, but she isn't complaining. It's good to get some good night sleep before starting her first day of school, which would be everyone's first month of school. She couldn't help but feel left out as she longed for her boyfriend back home even if he ruined her because she needed him. And she hated that she needed him, especially after he broke her and then left her to crumble and fall, not once helping to pick up the pieces. In fact, she made herself clear, she never wanted to see any of her old friends again. Not Vanessa, not Blake or Calypso or _him_.

Or Luke. Never again.

That was the one good thing about moving during senior year; she could leave all her other problems behind her and start over. She could pretend to be anyone else over here, and she was happy she may never have to see her so-called friends ever again. She closed her eyes, gripping her blankets, as she fell asleep.

 _Fifteen-year-old Annabeth Chase ducked under a small tree, looking worriedly over her shoulder despite the small grin that played on her face. She was playing hide and seek with her boyfriend and her step-brothers, as they tried to find him and Annabeth._

 _Annabeth looked over her shoulder to spot Luke, gesturing over to her in a hurried manner. Grinning, she looked left and right before dashing over to the cover that he had been hiding under: a berry bush._

" _You know they'll look everywhere for us," Annabeth pondered, her wide eyes staring in front of the dirt path, waiting for scampering feet to hit them and their joyous laugher ringing through her ears. Annabeth used to hate the kids when she first met them. Not only were they annoying and selfish, they were also happy. They thought the world was such a wondrous, joyous place and Annabeth felt bad because she knew the world wasn't sunshine and rainbows. The world was dark and empty and grey, and there was no shining sun in the distance, overlooking her life with a small smile etched into the sunny aura. There was no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy or anything that could save the day but in reality, most bad guys win in life, while others wallow up in their sorrows and their self-hatred. Life wasn't happy, and she felt cheated to see such happy people in her life._

 _But the two little boys had gone through something too, their father's death, and they knew the world was far from sunshine and rainbows. They were just better at hiding it._

" _They'll never find us here," Luke said cockily, shaking his head. "Those rascals will have no clue what's in store."_

" _And neither will their idiotic step-sister," I say with a laugh._

" _You'll see," he says grinning, a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. I can't help but grin back as he runs off, probably to show the boys "what's in store." Annabeth and Luke had been dating for only a couple of weeks now – nothing serious – but soon it would be and when it would? That's when the betrayal would hurt the most._

Annabeth woke up gasping for breath as she grabbed the edges of her blanket, trying to calm her down. She breathed a sigh as she lay down, resting her head on the pillow. She only got a moments rest of sleep when her step-mothers shrill voice rang in her ears. "Annabeth, it's time to get up!" She groaned when she looked at the time, stretching the tense muscles in her arms. She longed for more sleep but instead took a quick shower, changed into some jeans and navy-blue t-shirt, tucking her curly blond hair back into a ponytail, before grabbing her bag and rushing towards the door.

"Bye," she called, waving her arms ferociously, before hopping onto the sidewalk as she began her descent to school.

"How may I help you," the front desk lady, Mrs. Grenfell, asked a breathless Annabeth who stood in front of her looking at her ratty sneakers.

"I'm the new girl," she mutters, her jeans seeming more interesting than the women in front of her.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Annabeth Chase," Annabeth huffed, not meaning to sound too rude. Her grey eyes softened as she looked at the taken aback lady in front of her. "Sorry, I'm the new girl."

She smiled kindly before typing something into the computer which printed out her schedule. "Here you go Miss. Chase," she says, passing her the piece of paper. "Welcome to Goode High."

"Thanks," Annabeth says as she smiles one last time, before turning around and face-planting into someone else.

"I'm so sorry," she says, as she picks up her dropped schedule. The boy helps her and when she looks up, her grey eyes meet sea-green ones. She looks at the boy's face and gulps. It's raven-haired just like her former best friend…

 _No, Annabeth_ , her mind thinks. _Don't think about the past._

The teenager looks at her weirdly, as if almost remembering someone before shaking his head. "No problem," he says, his voice cheerful and somewhat flirtatious as he grins and asks, "First day?"

She can barely respond, too flustered in knowing that this boy looks just like her best friend, and her first crush. She nods, keeping her head down as she starts walking out the door. She doesn't mean to be rude but she didn't want to be late, especially on the first day.

"Well, cool," he says as stops her and stretches out a hand. "Well, my name is Percy Jackson, but I'm sure that you already know that."

Her eyes suddenly bulge, not only at the name but also the confidence emitting from him. She never remembered Percy to be this confident. Scrawny and cute yes, but never handsome or confident. Still, the fact that they hadn't talked in forever made it seem like Percy could be a starfish, and Annabeth would have to believe it.

"What's that supposed to mean," she said, crossing her arms.

He smirked, mocking her stance by crossing his arms. "I don't know, _babe_. You're smart, figure it out." He winks and Annabeth feels heat filling her cheeks before she scowls. Percy seems so different from the Percy, the _Seaweed Brain_ , that she knew before that she can't help but instantly be annoyed. Why was he acting like that? Like he didn't care about anything? Where was the boy whose eyes would light up when he saw his mother, the boy who was fearless as if nothing could stop him, the boy who cared more about the others around him than himself. Where was that boy?

As she's walking out the door, Percy stops her with another smirk. "I never got your name, Blondie." His smirk widens as she scowls at the horrible nickname. "Care to share?"

Annabeth opens her mouth to retort, already a snarky comment in mind, but the bell rings, signaling all teenagers to be at their first period class.

Annabeth grins and smirks in Percy's direction. "Guess it'll just have to stay a mystery."

It didn't stay a mystery for long.

By accident, since it was her first day of school, she had gotten lost while searching around the whole school trying to find her math class with Mrs. Dodd's. Since there were no students in the hall, she had to interrupt a class so that she could find directions towards her class, which was quite terrifying and very embarrassing. She still remembers the catcalls and the whistles she got when she stepped into Mr. Webber's Chemistry class.

The embarrassment didn't stop when she walked into her math class ten minutes late, with twenty other stares looking right at her and her flushed cheeks. She could feel sea-green eyes on her in the many other stares and she glowered at him. Whoever this Percy was, was not the Percy she knew and she would do anything to stay away from him.

Turns out she couldn't stay away from him as Mrs. Dodd's confirmed her schedule with the right hour and motioned towards the entire class.

"Class, this is our new student Annabeth Chase who has come from California. She will be in our school for the rest of the year." Many more catcalls and whoops circled around the classroom as many glares, as well as hesitant smiles were thrown my way. The only one who sat their rigid was Percy Jackson, upon hearing his former best friends name. Annabeth wanted to glower at him, or maybe even smirk in his direction, but instead looked down at her worn-out shoes in embarrassment. She had tons of pride and after she and Percy talked, she felt like he deserved a slap in the face, but now was not the time. Now was the time for studies and college preparation. Now was the time to work hard. She would have a spotless record, and no one would get in her way.

Not Calypso, or Luke, or Blake or Vanessa.

Not this school, or her father and step-mother.

And most definitely _not_ Perseus Jackson.

"Annabeth, why don't you sit next to Percy Jackson," she says, pointing to the desk in the back next to the scowling green-eyed boy, but not before glaring at Percy. The way she was glaring at him seemed as though there had been many complications beforehand, and the only reason Annabeth was sitting next to Percy was because there were no available seats left.

Annabeth shuddered at the thought of "complications" as she sat down next to Percy, who was trying very hard not to look in her direction.

 _Well, this certainly couldn't get any more awkward_ , Annabeth thought.

And she was most certainly right.

 **Hello everyone, I'm back! (School started and there was just not enough time to get this chapter out, and I had writers block so I'm sorry for the long awaited second chapter!) THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH FOR THE AMAZING REVIEWS I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD GET SO THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **Anyways, I hope you like it! And flames are obviously allowed as long as you don't say stuff such as "ur story suckssss and stuff kill urself" (I've seen these comments before, and they're not really criticism so I'd rather not see any of it). ALSO, I have many ideas and I wanted to know if any of you lovely people also had ideas for what you want next to come! I'll warn you now, Percy and Annabeth will not get together in the first ten chapters or whatever like normal fanfiction. Both are dealing with some fuc—I mean messed up crap, and they need to sort out their lives and their feelings before they start on a relationship. BUT DON'T WORRY! Of course, they'll need each other to help fix their messed-up lives and this a Percabeth fanfiction about changing Percy and his player ways so there will be tons of Percabeth before they get together! ANYWAYS SEE YA IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**


	3. Chapter Two: Argument

**Hey everyone, thanks for all the awesome support on this story! Uh so I'm gonna do some explaining and then off you go on this chapter!**

 **First off: Annabeth's stepmother is Annalise, not Sue. (in the first chapter I said Sue instead so I'm sorry about that.) Also, I would tell you the origin of their meeting and what not but I'm so tired. Basically, after like four hours, I had a chapter ready and written and then it got deleted so I had to write a new chapter. Yay! So sorry if the chapter isn't that great, after all that work I figure I'll still post something so here ya go! Next chapter will probably come on Saturday so keep your eyes and ears ready cause like... stuff.**

 **Anyway, WARNING CAUSE THERE WILL BE SWEARING FROM NOW AND IN UPCOMING CHAPTERS.**

ALSO **, I DONT OWN PJO AND HOO SADLY. TEARS.**

 **AND THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS/FOLLOWS/FAVORITES/VIEWS. HONESTLY, I WOULD NOT BE WRITING THIS WITHOUT THE** SUPPORT **YOU GUYS. SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU GUYS SO FREAKING MUCH. ALRIGHT HOPE YOU ENJOY!**

Chapter Two: Argument

Percy

Percy had a range of emotions. Sad, angry, confused, happy... he wasn't sure exactly what to make of it. It almost startled him; all the emotions spiraling inside of him, crawling, scratching, climbing to get out of his throat, to do something than openly gaping at the girl next to him.

The girl who drew smiley faces on his arms when he was sad, the girl who would spend all her time pouring over the designs of architecture, studying every edge and every crevice that she could get her eyes on. The girl who's eyes twinkled at one word of school, and the girl who left his school all those years ago when she decided she best be getting out of his life.

She didn't bother to call him. She never once did in the years since she's left and he can't help but feel betrayed. His best friend threw their 6-year friendship out the window like it was nothing, and she had the audacity to not even bat an eye at him. Like they were nothing. Like all those years ago, when he was younger and somehow in love with the blonde-haired beauty; all for nothing. _Well fine_ , he thought to himself. _If she can pretend we're strangers, so could I._

"Hey," Percy says, as casually as possible, but almost winces when his voice cracks. He can't help but scowl at her as he looks at the new, and improved, Annabeth Chase and almost gasps when he sees her wearing _it_. The parting gift. The thing that held them together like a tight-knit bond, never untying the spool of thread that bound them together. But now, it was hanging onto a rather small string and if that last connection broke, so would they, zipping them through a blur of what-ifs. If that last string was cut, it would almost mean that everything would go back to the way it was. Like they were nothing.

Nothing. Complete and utter nothingness.

Somehow that thought made him feel even more empty.

She sighed. "Hey, Percy," she fingers the necklace and he doesn't know why he suddenly feels happy, knowing Annabeth barely changed even through all those years. He almost smirks when she says, "I see you've changed."

"Changed for the better, right," Percy says, trying his best to flirt as he wiggles his eyebrows ungracefully and flexes his muscles. He was never the greatest flirt; girls just threw themselves at him because he was hot, but for some reason, it was more awkward to do it around Annabeth. Annabeth, his ex-best friend. And now his... acquaintance. Less than an acquaintance.

How did his world gets so fucked in such a short amount of time?

Oh right, he knew... but he would never tell anyone, including Annabeth that. He never even told _her_.

His ex-girlfriend.

He shook the thought away as he smirked once more, fighting the urge to let it drop. She had one eyebrow raised - something he was always jealous about since he could never do it - and a half-smile played on her lips. But even with the gesture, she was holding, her eyes were filled with something. Something he saw in his mother, in his teachers, his therapist, and sometimes even with the police. Disappointment. Like she actually thought he would change. That _her_ Seaweed Brain would never change, always see the world for how innocent it used to be, and when she came falling back into his life, he would be right there to catch her.

But he wouldn't be.

He knew how life was - how horrible, and cruel the world could be - and he wasn't going to let him or anyone else get hurt. Whether it was because of him, or because of something else.

"Is that the best you got, Seaweed Brain," she asks teasingly, and he bites his lip down to keep the growing grin from relapsing on his face. He ignores the warm feeling that he got when she called him that as he scowled, smirking once more to pretend like it hadn't hurt him. Like he wasn't affected by what she said.

"Don't call me that," he hissed, staring intently at Mrs. Dodd's as she taught, doing his best not to look in her direction. From his peripheral view he could see she was hurt a little by what he had to say but quickly covered it up with a wall, almost too high that even if he was curious, no one would ever be able to get through.

She sighs once more, tilting her head to the side as she takes notes on whatever math problem they were on; he didn't know.

Quietly, after pretending to continue the problem, she looked at him with her startling gray eyes that made him hold his breath. They suddenly softened, as she looked at him with a grimace. "I'm sorry, you know."

"For what," he snapped, looking down at his own paper. Maybe he was being a little rude but he didn't, no _couldn't_ , seem to care. He wouldn't let it go that fast; he was not that good at forgiving, and he wasn't about to change his ways for some nerd who was once his best friend. Those days were over. Whatever they were, they would never be again. Life would go on despite the sadness in his life and he needed to keep up with it, or else he would fall flat on his face. And he sure as hell knew that when he did, no one including Annabeth Chase would be there to save him.

So, no, Annabeth Chase was not forgiven and nor would she ever be. He made that promise years ago and he intended to keep it.

"For leaving," she says quietly, letting her voice drop even quieter where he almost had to lean over to hear. "I should've at least called or something."

" _Or something_ ," he mutters bitterly and she shoots daggers at him.

"Look, asshole, I'm trying to forgive you here."

"Well look, bitch, I couldn't care for your apology. I don't even care what happened." He looked away from her piercing gray eyes as he continued to stare at the white board as if it was a lifeline.

"You do care," she says softly, almost to herself. "What happened to the Percy I knew?"

"I don't know," Percy says, as he shuffles his papers up and shoves them haphazardly into his backpack. "But the Percy you knew wasn't the real Percy."

"Heard you and the new girl are in the same math class," Jason, one of Percy's "friends," said as they walked to their cafeteria table. Percy thought that he was lucky enough to have friends at school, let alone be the most popular student in the damn high school, but he never once told them about important things. Things that mattered, if you will. He never told them about _him_ , or _her_ or that other _her_ , or even his mother, and the blue cookies. Maybe they were all dense or didn't seem to care, but Percy never lets them near him. He never let them see what kind of person he truly was. And he was okay with that. The less someone knew something about it, the better. His "friends" shouldn't have to carry him every time he could barely move forward. he didn't want to be their burden.

"Eh, yeah whatever," Percy said, trying to sound nonchalant. It didn't work as Jason let out a whoop of cheer.

"Did you get to know her," he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Percy shrugged. "Nope."

"Did you flirt with her?"

Percy shrugged once more. "Nope."

Jason looked at him, confused before saying, "Dude. Did you even get her number?"

Percy shrugged. "Nope."

"Dude, what the hell's wrong with you?"

"What?"

Jason, gives him an _are you dumb?_ look before explaining. "You didn't get the really hot chick's number? I thought you were into blondes!"

"No," Percy said, exasperated. "I just... don't feel that way about her."

"Since when were there any feelings involved?"

Percy shook his head numbly, realizing his mistake. "There's not," he said but Jason gave him a dubious look. "Hey, let's just stop talking about it, okay? Besides, I've got some girls that I might hit up later so..."

"Cool, man," Jason said, slapping his arm before going to sit down at the table. Percy's friends; Grover, Juniper, Piper, and Nico all nodded their heads as they sat down. The group was quite unusual with their weird personalities and their wacky stories. But it almost didn't seem to matter seeming as they all fit together perfectly; like they were all apart of a puzzle, each helping each other up as life went on just as the pieces helped reach the clear picture they were trying to make.

Grover's curly brown haired bobbed up and down in joy as Juniper, Grover's girlfriend, gave Grover a huge enchilada for his birthday. He kissed her quickly on the cheek, prompting her face to be ablaze as he sat down and wolfed the treat up, looking hungrily for more.

The rest of the teenagers each gave each other smirks as they threw a bag in the middle of the table, all filled with enchiladas for Grover's birthday.

"You guys are so sweet," he purred, eating and eating as they all laughed, happy to do something for someone else.

"Happy birthday, G-Man," chirped Leo Valdez as he sat down in the booth, grinning at them.

"Where's Silena and Beckendorf," Percy asked, looking around for the two lovers.

Leo smirked and shook his head, laughing. "I think you know where they are." He started wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and everyone groaned, Nico almost throwing up on Jason's shoes.

"Not on my new shoes, Ghost Boy."

"New? They look ugly as hell."

"What? They're adorable!"

"Did you just say adorable? Oh my God, Piper, you are rubbing off on him."

"What? I never said that."

"Oh, don't go denying it-"

"You're just jealous of my shoes."

"What? I-"

"Guys," Piper, barked at them, both of them immediately being quiet. "Look who Thalia's bringing." She sends Percy a sympathetic look as Thalia, Nico and Percy's cousin, come into view. And there, standing next to her is Annabeth Chase. And on Thalia's right? Rachel Dare.

"Oh great," he mutters, looking down at his food. "This is gonna be fun."

Rachel plops down next to Percy, giving him a dazzling smile which makes Percy woozy on his feet before shaking his head, glaring at the red-headed beauty sitting next to him. He turns to the right of him to see Annabeth Chase, giving him a small smile which looks quite dazzling on her. Percy manages to glare daggers at her but she only smiles innocently, eating her chips.

Percy shakes his head. He's a player, he doesn't get woozy over a girls smile and doesn't have crushes on girls, especially on girls who break his heart. So, as he's staring at both the girls he cares about who broke his heart, anger races through his veins. Because, the two people he's been trying to run away from all day, are back. And they're sitting right next to him.

He has the urge to groan as he balls his fists, sighing shakily.

Thalia gestures to the group and then towards Annabeth. "Guys, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, guys." She looks intensely at each of them before looking at Percy with an intense glare. "Don't do anything stupid." Everyone laughs and he pretends to laugh to while vigorously nodding his head.

Everyone goes around saying their name and when it comes to his turn, he mutters, "Percy," which no one hears.

"What's that Kelp Head?" Thalia makes a scene of leaning closer towards him, sending him a mischievous smirk. "I didn't hear what you said."

I look to Annabeth for help but she only has an amused grin on her face. He suddenly realizes how pretty she looks; with her blonde curls, falling across her shoulders, her stunning gray eyes, and her tan skin, she looks likes a real Californian. And he can't help but look at her stunning beauty, his blonde-headed beauty of a friend, as her amused grin starts to fall. He finds himself drowning in her storm-filled eyes, the world blurring away as he stares at her. But then she coughs, and turns away, her face beet red. I try for a grin, but my cheeks are tinted red almost like Rachel's color of hair.

 _Rachel..._

She's staring at him with a baffled expression as if she can't believe that he just did that. He shrugs, finally losing the drunk feeling he feels when he's staring at her.

She clears her throat again, her face still tinted red, and he finds himself grinning from ear to ear at her awkwardness. It looks cute, and he likes cute.

But he would never hurt her. No, they have too much history for them to be anything more than just friends if it even comes to that.

Annabeth makes up some excuse for their weird behavior and Jason says some corny joke that makes her laugh, making his heart swell and fall at the same time.

Percy glares at the table, not saying anything for the rest of lunch.

"Hey, so there's a party tomorrow. You coming," Jason asks Percy as they're walking, leisurely, back to their houses. Percy can't help but feel disgruntled at their circumstances. Jason will go home and wait for Thalia to arrive and when she does, they'll giggle and laugh as they make dinner for each other, watching _The Bachelor_ reruns until they both fall fast asleep, forgetting to do their homework.

To Jason, this was an actual leisure walk but for Percy? It was nerve-wracking. He would go home, pretending to not notice the bruises on his mother as she made him dinner and he did his homework alone. He would eat dinner alone and when _he_ would come home? He would pretend not to hear the loud screams emitting from their apartment building, or the sound of the glass shattering onto his mother face.

He shudders, not being able to think about it anymore. Jason, not noticing rattles on, "Silena's hosting, so you better be showing."

"I'll be there."

Jason smiles. "Good."

"See ya later, man."

"Wait, Percy," Jason calls and Percy turns to look at him with a look of confusion on his face. "What?"

"Just..." Jason sighs, ruffling his hair tiredly. "Look, I saw the way you and Annabeth looked at each other and..."

Percy immediately shakes his head. "That was nothing, alright? I was just messing with her."

Jason shakes his head, running his hands through his hair. "Just promise me one thing, okay?"

Percy shrugs, fixing Jason with a lazy grin. "Have at it."

Jason sighs. "Just don't get hurt, alright? I don't want to see you crying over some girl again." More quietly he says, "Especially ones you deserve better from."

Percy nods, grinning smugly. "Hey Jace, I promise alright? I'm not stupid, I would never do anything like that." Jason grins and they do their 'best friend hand-shake' laughing at their stupidity. "Don't worry, I've got a date tonight!" He ruffles his hair, trying to make him look sexy. "She won't see what hit her," he says and winks.

"Alright cool, man," Jason says, chuckling. "Have a good night, alright?"

"Alright," Percy agrees. More hesitantly, he says, "You to Jason."

And then they walk away, leaving the promise still lingering in their minds.

And Percy would never know he was breaking multiple promises until it actually happened. When the last string was broke, leaving all of them emotionally broke. As if they had been broken all along.

If only they knew.

 **Thank you all for the reviews, and hopefully, you guys liked this chapter though I think it's absolute shit! I'll try to write a better one on Saturday, let's hope my computer doesn't crash on me or anything!**


	4. Chapter 3: Project

**Hey, everyone! I am so sorry for the terrible day I was having, and therefore having a horrible writing day! Anyway, I decided I would upload a lot just because it was the weekend, and I usually do nothing anyway so why not just do this? Anyway, thanks for reviewing and reading the story, and here is the next chapter.**

 **Also, I would promise I would share with you the entire span of their life just in case you weren't keeping up. (It was pretty confusing so I don't blame you). So Annabeth and Percy met each other when they were six years old, and they stayed best friends until they were twelve, when Annabeth moved. When Annabeth was fifteen, she and Luke started dating until a couple weeks before Annabeth left when Luke broke up with her. Percy also started dating Rachel for a year before they called it quits since Rachel and Ethan are assholes, basically. Yes, Gabe is in his life. He became apart of his life a couple months after Annabeth left, and he's been abused ever since.**

 **Also, I know some of you might be annoyed because Percy can't flirt for shit, but I find it adorable how a presumably 'bad boy' can barely flirt. Just like how the presumably 'bad boy' likes everything blue, and how he's super giddy whenever he talks about the ocean. I don't know, I found it cute or whatever, and so does Annabeth here, so I got her on my side!**

 **Also, whenever I write in** ** _italics_** **, that means that we're thinking in Annabeth/Percy's mind or their flashbacks**.

 **Anyway, I hope that timeline helped just in case you were confused, and yeah! Thank you for everyone reading this story!**

 **(In the beginning of the story, I say a little bit about Annabeth cuts, if you're sensitive to that just skip like the first sentence. All you need to know is that Annabeth is severely depressed and that she cuts).**

 **Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYONE OF THESE BELOVED CHARACTERS I'M SORRY!**

Annabeth

Annabeth often wished for her mother when Annabeth found herself in a rough spot, a knife or a blade resting on her skin.

She wished she had her mother to cheer her up, wished she had her mother there to make her a home cooked meal, wished for her mother to bind her cuts with band-aids, kissing each individual one as if they were all special.

She wished her mother was here, and not buried six feet under.

She wished for many things, but most often than not did she wish for her mother to come back as a ghost, and take her away from the horrible hooligans that rotted her life and made her sick of not only them but also herself.

And then there was the Percy situation.

The Percy situation was too complicated, and it made her heart race and her eyes scrunch up in confusion. One minute he was hating her, and the next he was looking at her as if he cared. As if he wanted to get to know the Annabeth Chase 2.0 that had been constructed just as she had wanted to understand the Percy Jackson 2.0.

He had walls; she had walls.

He was an asshole; she was the bitch.

They were both so stubborn and furious at one another that they refused to talk to each other during Math.

The students found it all quite unnerving.

He had told her the Percy she knew, the Seaweed Brain of it all, was not like that. That he was different, that he had changed. He wasn't sweet, good old Percy anymore, he was Percy Jackson, a sex god.

And somehow she found it adorable how he could barely flirt.

Maybe his caring and compassionate side slipped out every once in awhile, and that's how he got the girls. Maybe it was the sea-green eyes that girls swooned over or his unruly hair that girls just wanted to run their hands through. Maybe they all knew what they were getting into, and yet they still wanted it. They still wanted it, and everything he offered.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she made her way towards Greek, her new class she was taking. As soon as Thalia had told her about it, she had headed towards the guidance counselor's office to get her classes switched. Unfortunately, they didn't change her math class, which she seemed okay with. Seeing Percy was a disaster, talking to him was a nightmare, and hearing all the whispers and rumors seemed to send shivers down her spine. But he didn't seem to care and so she didn't seem to care. She would bring it up later; when they were friends.

She was adamant on fixing the way things were between Percy and her, and nothing to get in her way. Not even Rachel, who seemed to be Percy's ex-girlfriend, who kept sending her daggers whenever she saw her. She pointedly ignored her instead, checking her phone nonstop to keep her hands from sweating.

Immediately, she walked into Mr. Brunner's Greek Mythology class, smiling tentatively at the teacher. He looked to be in his forties, with strands of white hair interlaced with brown hair. His brown eyes seemed to be filled with caring, and she immediately liked the teachers.

She heard many gasps and whispers, chuckles and hushed voices but she kept walking, her head high, as she sauntered over to Mr. Brunner's desk. While he checked her schedule, Annabeth turned to look at the assortment of people watching her with a bewildered look.

She internally groaned when she felt a certain sea-greened boy staring intently at her and almost groaned allowed when he saw who was next to him. Great.

She didn't understand why Rachel hated her so much. Last time she checked, she and Percy weren't dating. She huffed in annoyance as she grabbed her schedule back, taking the only available seat. The one right behind Percy and Rachel.

Great, she thought. Just my luck.

"Class, as you know, today we're starting the unit project on Gods..." his voice droned on as everyone in the room groaned except for Annabeth. Her eyes lit up at the thought and her smile widened just a bit.

She caught Percy staring at her, amusedly, and when she raised an eyebrow at him - she was very well aware of how jealous he used to be her signature look - his amused grin turned into a smirk, his green eyes lit with mischief. She rolled her eyes and bit her lip to keep the grin from forming on her face as she stared intently at the piece of paper that had just been handed out.

"So, class, the unit project will be to pick two gods to write about. You will compare and contrast the gods, and write two separate essays on certain facts you picked up on and what kind of personality these two gods have. You will create a presentation to show the class which in total will be worth 100 points, half of your grade." Multiple students gulped as they looked at the rather nonchalant Mr. Brunner, who was sitting in his wheelchair. Wheeling his way back to his desk, he cleared his throat. "You will only be working in pairs, no groups of threes or fours." A boy named Travis Stoll raises his hand and Mr. Brunner sighs, rolling his eyes amusedly. "Yes, Travis, you're allowed to pick your partner."

Connor raises his hand and Mr. Brunner lets out another sigh. "And yes, Connor, your partner can be the opposite gender."

"Alright," Travis yelled enthusiastically, high-fiving his brother, Connor. They shared mischievous grins on their faces before turning to look at all the girls in the class, almost hungrily. In front of Annabeth, Percy laughed. Annabeth glared at him and he shrugged as if to show he wasn't affected by her glare.

 _Yeah right_ , she thought advertently. _He's a horrible actor._

A pang of jealousy hit Annabeth full force as Rachel went to twirl a finger through her stringy, red hair, looking at Percy flirtatiously. Not at the fact that she was flirting with Percy, but at the fact that she had someone to flirt with. She didn't have anyone in this class she knew besides Percy and Rachel, and she was pretty positive who he was going to pick.

She sighed. _If only Luke were here_ , she thought bitterly.

Her body suddenly tensed at the name and it took all her willpower not to run out the door just then. She stared blankly at the table in front of her, memories and visions suddenly replaying in her mind, almost as if she couldn't stop them.

 _"Hey," fifteen-year-old Annabeth Chase said as she opened the door and peeked at the breathtaking boy in front of her._

 _His messy blonde hair was styled so that it stayed flat; he must've used plenty of hair gel, that makes Annabeth smile brightly. His electric blue eyes fit him nicely as they look at Annabeth lovingly, her legs nearly going weak at the sight of him. He's wearing a Green Day shirt and tight-fit jeans that make Annabeth's grin widen._

 _"Holy shit," Luke whispers when he sees Annabeth in a light purple sleeveless dress._

 _"Hey, my stepbrothers are home," she teases, pushing him away gently. "No swearing allowed."_

 _He smiles at her and bows ungracefully. "Are you ready, M'lady," he asks, extending his arm light-heartedly._

 _Annabeth pretends to think about it, her index finger thumping her chin in confusion. Finally, she grins, taking his arm as she closes the door gently as to not wake her step-brothers. "Ready as I'll ever be."_

Annabeth blinks, regaining composure of herself as she sees Rachel move her hand to connect with Percy's. She can see his walls crumbling, almost as if by instinct, but then his eyes harden and he shakes her off. She looks taken aback by it before flashing him another innocent smile. "Percy, why won't you work with me?"

"Because you never do any work," he mutters darkly, turning away from her grasp.

"I'll do work for you," she says seductively in his ear and Annabeth almost cringes at how close they are.

Percy shakes her off once more before turning to her with a rather small smile. "Annie, wanna work with me?"

"It's Annabeth," she retorts quickly, but he just chuckles.

"Why do you get so peeved off by it anyway? It's just a name. You used to love it." She shudders at the thought, memories nearly pooling out of her brain as she shakes her head, shrugging nonchalantly. If he could tell something was wrong, he didn't bother asking about it.

"What do ya say, Wise Girl?" she scowled at the nickname and he grinned. "You, me. Partners."

Rachel sputters, coughing violently at the thought of Annabeth and Percy being 'partners.'

"Please, Percy. You wouldn't get far with this skank over here," she says, pointing towards Annabeth. Percy looks at Rachel shocked while Annabeth gapes at her, wondering just what the hell was her deal. Even Rachel's lips were pulled into a tight line as if she didn't mean to say it.

Annabeth turns to Percy and smiles maliciously at him. He gulps as she responds, "Of course, Percy." She glares at Rachel once more before smiling sweetly at the raven-haired boy. "I would love to be partners with you."

The rest of the day went by swimmingly; Percy and Annabeth only talked when they had too, Rachel kept glaring vehemently at Annabeth, and her step-monster was as usual as it could get. By the time four-thirty came around, Annabeth almost didn't even want to see Percy and his signature smirk or his different personality.

She sighed. _She came here for the studies,_ she reminds herself. _And you promised yourself. No one would get in the way of that. Not even Percy._

She hastily made her way towards the small cafe, the one they agreed upon meeting, as she slips into a booth in the back. She smiles tenderly at the aura of Ambrosia. It had quotes written in different fonts all over the walls, and paintings of weird, intricate sketches hung around the small building. The booths were lined up neatly right next to each other, pushed up against the cement walls and were lit with a small chandelier with every booth. She smiled to herself as she takes a sip of her cappuccino. A home was where your heart was, she thinks. But her heart was with someone else. Her heart was with Luke.

Maybe she could make somewhere else home, too.

That's when Percy walked in, and Annabeth's eyes widened for just a second. There was no secret that Percy had changed from the scrawny, muscle-less boy, but she had never taken the time to fully look at Percy 2.0. Every curve, every jagged corner or crevice of him had changed and now he looked hot. Sexy, almost. But Annabeth shook the thought away. Studies, she told herself. Remember the studies.

Percy caught her gaze, his sea-green eyes boring into her as Percy's smile widened. He swiftly made it over towards the back, dodging customers and waiters along the way.

"Hey," he said as he climbed into the seat. He grinned up at her, before looking at the choices on the menu.

"Hey," she replied back. "You're late."

"Hmmm…," he said. "Don't care." she rolled her eyes. He was never the greatest actor; she never figured out how anyone else saw that. He orders black coffee and takes to looking out the window, letting the warm aura of the soothe his tense shoulders.

Taking a sip of her cappuccino, she asks, "What do you want to do?"

"Nothing," he says without skipping a beat. "I would like to drink my coffee in peace."

I sighed. "You complain about Rachel never doing any work and yet you yourself don't do anything?"

He smirked. "I usually let the girls do it for me."

"So, Rachel's not a girl?"

"Rachel is a bitch, that's what she is," Percy replies, angrily. His teeth are clenched and his jaw is pulled tightly shut, his hands balling into fists.

Annabeth's eyes widen a little. Gone was the calm, cool, collected Percy that was just there mere seconds ago and now here stood someone who could barely control his anger. "Hey," she says calmly, and before she can tell herself to stop, she wraps her hand around his. He relaxes by the touch and she smiles at him. "Rachel is a bitch. Did you hear her today? She called me a skank." Percy laughs at that, a real laugh, and grins at her.

"Yeah, I did. She's quite the charmer you know."

She rolls her eyes, letting go of his hand. "Whatever."

"No, really." His signature smirk is back and he wiggles his eyebrows at her. "She's one of the best."

"You're horrible."

"And you're horribly in love with me," he says, his smirk widening.

She laughs, shaking her head. "The only person who's horribly in love with you is yourself."

"Tell that to all the girls who chase after me."

She sighs. "You know, I'm sure all those girls are pretty hurt by what you did to them."

He shrugs. "I mean, they should know me by now. I am a player."

"Yeah, well, sometimes they don't see it like that."

"Then what do they see?"

"Someone they can change," she tells him. "Someone worth falling in love with."

He lets out an airy laugh, taking a sip of his coffee. "Well, I'm not." She's about to retaliate but he quickly continues, "and if they haven't figured it out already, then they will soon enough."

A tense silence filled the small booth as the two try to look anywhere than at each other. Annabeth looks out the window to find a breathtaking view. The sky is cloudless and the trees blow gently against the calming wind. It may be October, but not every day was a blizzard.

She faintly hears Percy scowling to himself before he asks, "You going to Silena's party tonight?"

She shrugs. "Yeah. Why?"

"Because, my little Wise Girl," she scoffs at the nickname and he smirks. "I'll be there too."

He finishes the last of his coffee and then turns to leave but Annabeth grabs his arm. "What about the project?"

He shakes her hand off, looking at her like she's an idiot. "Does it look like I care?"

He walks out without another word, leaving Annabeth there once again, with her eyes wide in shock.

 _Of course_ , she thought. _He's still the asshole. Did you think he would change?_

But something was wrong this time, she knew it. He was hiding something from her.

And she intended to find out what that was.

 **HOPE YOU PEOPLE LIKE IT AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVEN READING MY STORY! THANK YOU!**


	5. Chapter 4: Party

**Hey, just got done with another chapter! Whoop whoop! So excited!**

 **Anyway, before I start this, I just need to give a shout out to Cinder Luna for commenting and being so sweet and supportive! She is super** kind **and amazingly sweet that anyone reading this should definitely look at her stuff!**

 **Also, as an added bonus, just pat yourself on the back if you're reading this cause if you are, I LOVE YOU! Thank you to all for sticking with this story through all its ups and downs and I'm hoping I can really fix later on! Anyway, let's get on with the story as you find out more about Percy as a character, and a little bit of why you would think he changed and everything like that. I know most of you dislike "new" Percy, but I hope in this chapter you'll understand him a bit more! I don't necessarily agree with his actions, but I understand why he would do all of that stuff. And I hope you will too!**

 **Also, warning (gagging may be involved) There's some Perachel in this chapter, but don't worry, there is also Percabeth so all is well!**

Percy:

 _Percy, a scrawny fifteen-year-old, walks with his best friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, as they make their way to her car where her father is waiting._

 _Percy's nervous; he always is around Rachel, but this time it's different._

 _He's not sure if he's ready for this._

 _"Thanks for walking me," Rachel says, smiling gratefully at Percy. Some kids had just made fun of her for sleeping around, slut shaming her; whatever word that first came to mind. She had seemed frightened and offended by their comments as she was cornered. When Percy found them, he protected her, just like he always did._

 _After what he had done to the bullies, he figured they'd never hurt her again._

 _"Hey, no problem," Percy says, blushing at the thought of protecting his friend. Why was she thanking him when it was common decency? If he saw his best friend being attacked by a bunch of bullies, he would've done anything for them._

 _"No, seriously," she says, looking him in the eye. "You didn't have to do that."_

 _"I wasn't gonna let you get hurt by those losers," Percy says indignantly, "anyone else would've done the same thing."_

 _"No, they wouldn't have," she replies, looking at him intently. "You're different, Percy."_

 _His heart flutters at the thought of her calling him 'different' and he grins, his tense muscles sagging. He looks at her and can't help but give her a goofy smile when she smiles genuinely back._

 _"Hey, so I was wondering…" Percy says, blushing profusely at what he's about to say. "There's a new cafe shop in town. I think it's called, Ambrosia or something?" He's afraid to look up as he asks so he just keeps his head down, his hand scratching his neck in embarrassment. "So, you know..." he rushes the next part out, his entire face red. "Maybe you'd like to go with me there sometime?"_

 _He doesn't dare look up as Rachel asks quietly, "Are you asking me on a date?"_

 _He wants to say no so badly, to not have to go through with this heinous plan of his, but he can't pretend anymore that he doesn't have any feelings for Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Because the truth is, he was freaking in love with her so much, it pained him sometimes to see her with other men; when she wasn't with him. He even had everything planned out; mapped and shaped and formed by his own imagination._

 _He wanted to spend lazy nights with her, watching those trashy rom com's she seems to love. He wanted to wake up to her cooking, making sure the toast is extra blue so he doesn't have to complain so often. He wanted to smile at her, and her to smile back at him. He wants to get married to her, saying those stupid vows he used to cringe at and have children as they watch them grow up, hand in hand. He wants to go to their weddings and cry in all of them, and spend their last dying years fighting over the remote because he knows, no matter how in love she claims she is with him, she'll always want to look at Logan Lerman at least one more time._

 _They'll hold hands together as they say their final vows, one which they've said so many times, as they watch each other sleep, praying it isn't the last time they see each other._

 _For some reason, he wants to have a life with Rachel Elizabeth Dare. For once, he wants to live._

 _He doesn't know why, as a fifteen-year old, he would think like this, but he does. Because, after meeting her when he was only thirteen, she's the one that helped him. He never told her anything about Gabe but yet she still knew whenever something was wrong, and would always be there for him._

 _Without her; he would be dead. And he needs her more than she will ever know, or care to know._

 _So he whispers, as low as possible, "Yes." Then, "I would like to go on a date with you."_

 _When he finally looks up at her, she's grinning from ear to ear as she grabs hold of his sweaty hand, not caring how gross it may be. "Better late than never," she says and he laughs, throwing his arms around her._

 _He holds her as if she's his lifeline because he needs her more so than he needs himself. He holds onto her as if she's the last human alive as if the world may be crashing and burning all around him but he wouldn't care as he hugged her tighter, trying to pull her even closer to him._

 _He holds onto her because he's afraid that he might lose her, that he might let her slip away from his grasp._

 _It was ironic that as he was holding onto her, so tight, she was already slipping away._

 _She never loved him. And yet, like always, he had childishly, foolishly thought that happily-ever-afters were a real thing and that if you just waited long enough, sometimes good things happened._

 _Because the truth was, nothing was good anymore. The world wasn't innocent like it was; Santa wasn't real and a fairy godmother wasn't going to come around and save him from his terrible life._

 _He should've realized this the first time Gabe hit him, or when his mom starting working late, or when Annabeth left, or when Rachel used him, over and over again._

 _But he was naive; he believed everything was going to be alright. That he was fine. That everything would work out perfectly and he would live the rest of his life happily because that's what he believes he deserved._

 _But now he knows the truth. Now he knows what the world really is like, and he will never be fooled by it again._

 _So now, as a seventeen-year-old, he refuses to give up and let his guard down. Not to any one of his friends, his mother, his therapist, and especially not to the one girl who left him when he needed her most._

He woke to the sound of his phone ringing loudly in his ear. He groaned - this was how most nights went for him - as he looked to see who it was. Nico. He cursed to himself silently. He had totally forgotten about the party. He quickly found a random pair of jeans on the ground as he answered the phone.

"What," Percy asked groggily, trying to find a clean enough shirt. He took a dark green shirt and put it on; girls used to tell him it looked nice with his eyes, so he would always wear it to impress them.

"Dude, is your head seriously made out of kelp? We gotta go!"

"Dude, how much time have you spent with Thalia?"

"Perce, it doesn't matter. Just get your ass over here!"

"Coming, mommy," he says boyishly, and Nico groans.

"Tell me again, why I'm friends with you?"

"Because no one else would take you," he says in a sing-songy way.

"Whatever. Look, we're waiting outside. Come out when you're ready."

"Cool. See ya later, Ghost Boy."

He clicks off the phone before freshening up a little. Then, just like he always does, he crawls through his window and out into the backyard where his friends are waiting.

"Took you long enough, Perce," says Jason as he opens the car door for him.

"Where's Piper," he asks, looking out the window.

"She's coming with the girls. Thals, Juniper, Rachel…" he cringes at the name. "and Annabeth." Now, his head perks up. He imagines her in a long, sleeveless dress and he frowns at the sight. _So,_ he thinks. _Maybe I'm not the only who's changed._

"She's seriously coming?"

Jason furrows his eyes. "I thought you knew…?"

Percy cuts him off. "I did," he says bluntly. "I just figured she wouldn't go through with it."

"Why," Jason asks, tilting his head to the side. "She isn't a total goody-goody, Perce."

"She's not," Percy asks, dumbfounded.

"She doesn't raise her hand for every question," Jason says teasingly. "Just most of them."

Percy chuckles, looking down at his hands. "That's my Wise Girl," he mutters, shaking his head as memories unfold in his mind.

One of him and Annabeth when they were seven; getting ice cream from the old park that was down the street from his apartment.

Memories of Annabeth in class being bullied by Rachel Dare for knowing absolutely everything.

Moments when he would catch himself looking too long at her, or when they went to a bonfire or the time they stood still in the rain without jackets for an hour so that they could be sick and they wouldn't have to go to school the next day.

Or the time when she left him, the memory still blazing in his mind.

He remembers how much he cried that day; how he just wished he had one more minute to tell her how he really felt about her.

If he had, maybe they wouldn't be in this situation now or acting this way around each other. Maybe she would've run away with him, living off stale blue food until they turned themselves into the police.

 _Maybe,_ he thinks. _Maybe they would be friends._

But he quickly dismisses the thought. No, he thinks. Don't think of the what-ifs. You can't trust her, and she can't trust you.

At least that's what you think now, another voice in his head says and he, for some reason, doesn't argue with it.

Maybe he already knows what's going to happen and is just waiting for the inevitable.

Or maybe it's something more.

 _Or maybe,_ he finally thinks. _He should stop thinking about 'maybe.'_

His mind stays quiet for the rest of the ride.

After picking up Leo and Beckendorf, Jason drives them to Silena's house for the party. As soon as the gang gets out, they all whoop and fist bump each other as Beckendorf grabs the kegs from the trunk. "Ready to go," he asks everyone, and once again, they all whoop and cheer, throwing fist bumps in the air.

But Percy isn't feeling it.

He isn't feeling the usual excitement he gets from seeing the drunk girls, and he doesn't get that fluttery feeling when the pop music starts playing and everyone starts dancing on each other. He doesn't get that adrenaline when he sees everyone hopping into the pool, which is the biggest disappointment, and all the girls look as if they're personalities are simple, not complex.

Which results in him sitting on the back porch, away from the loud, popping music and far enough away from the pool so he doesn't get splashed.

In his hand, he has a cup filled with fruit punch - one thing Percy will never do is get drunk - and he sits on a chair, smiling at the immature boys around him.

"Anyone sitting here," a calm, familiar voice asks. He turns around and there she is, dressed in a navy blue shirt and some dark, skinny jeans. He can't help but admit she's pretty; beautiful even, and that she's grown tremendously since they were twelve.

He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, and she sits down, turning towards him. He almost gulps when he sees her familiar startling gray eyes, but quickly dismisses the thought. Annabeth was his best friend, yeah, he thinks to himself. But she wouldn't kill him. At least, not today.

She eyes him and he smirks. "Like what you see," he asks her and instead of blushing, like most of the girls, she gives him a small, tentative smile.

"Looks like some things never change," she says smoothly, gesturing to his clothes and his rather unruly raven hair.

He immediately starts to pat down his hair, which only makes things worse. Now, he has multiple strands sticking out in every way. He tries for a grin, giving her a thumbs up sign, but she just bites her lip to keep from laughing.

"Perfect," she says playfully, smiling broadly at him. "Truly perfect."

"Sex hair is the way to go," he says and she laughs. Her laugh is melodic, almost as if it's in peace and yet controlled, and he suddenly has the urge to make her laugh genuinely, with no self-control. To let her head fall back and for her to have an amused grin on her face as she cocks an eyebrow at him, making him even more jealous of her skill.

But they aren't friends. He shouldn't be thinking that so he ignores it, looking back at the pool where all his friends have gone.

"Why aren't you with them," she asks, looking quizzically at him. He frowns, why wasn't he with them?

Because you don't belong here, another voice, he was guessing his conscience? was saying. You aren't like this.

But I am, he repeated in his head. This is who I'm meant to be.

Who even are you, the voice asks.

He scowls, deciding to ignore the small voice in his head. "Cause they're idiots," he says. "Besides, I'm just waiting for the perfect girl to show up. You know?" He winks and tries for a grin, but she just gives him a baffled look before turning to look at the pool again.

"Why are you like that," she finally asks, so quietly he almost has to move closer to hear.

He raises both his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You've turned into, dare I say it, a fuckboy." He grins and she scowls at him. She shifts completely forward to face him, her expression serious. "What changed?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he mutters, pretending to study his nails.

"Oh C'mon," she says, frustration leaking out of her voice. "You know it, and I know it, and everyone knows it! Why won't you admit it?"

"Why do you care," he finally asks, seething. "You never once cared enough to call or text me or something, and now all of a sudden you want to be like my mother? No thanks, Annabeth. I already got one. And I don't need help from you. I don't need help from anyone."

When he finishes, Annabeth is in complete shock. He feels a small pang of guilt hit him in the chest, but instead, he smirks. He can't let anyone through, he chides. Lord knows one of you will mess it up again.

Angry, Percy gets up from his seat, hand still cupping his punch. He's almost far away from her when her small, timid voice stops him dead in his tracks. "Percy," she asks, and she sounds so broken and defeated that it takes all his energy not to turn around and embrace her, apologize for everything he's ever done to her and to just go back to how things were.

But instead, he holds his ground, turning to her with his eyes mixed with fury and pain. "What," he says with as much conviction and venom as he can muster.

When he looks at her, he almost loses the fight in him as his face softens. Her lips are tightly closed, her face pale, but her steely eyes tell it all. They're mixed with pain, and guilt and compassion and he want to reach out to her and grab her hand, letting her know that he cares, that he's still with her, that he'll always be there for her.

But he puts his walls up as he asks again, "What," with much more anger in them.

Her voice wavers a little but holds strong as she says, "You may pretend you don't need help," her voice grows small and faint as she whispers. "But you do."

"And what makes you say that," he asks her, raising both his eyebrows.

"Because, " she says slowly as if she's trying to reach out to him, to shake him out of the facade he's put up. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have to put up a wall to keep everyone out." And then she saunters off, leaving Percy with a bewildered expression on his face.

 **Yo heyyyyy, I hope you all liked it! Sorry if it's starting off slow, they have to actually become friends and sort of trust each other (and start to actually fall in love, again) before all the real drama happens! Believe me, shit will GO DOWN! Anyway,** **hopefully, everyone likes it and stuff and no, Percy's not going insane. He just likes to argue a lot with himself, which is something I also do lol. But maybe that's just me, I don't know.**

 **Also, I don't know if you guys want longer chapters or not so please tell me that when commenting as well as any flames/compliments I guess. That's all I have to say. See ya next update!**


	6. Chapter 5: I Spy

**Hey, everyone! How is everyone doing? I'm hoping you are all doing fantastic and stuff…**

 **Anyway, enjoy the update! I finished this at like 4 in the morning, so if there are any corrections. Sorry! Cause like I probably forgot to fix it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO or anydayy sooooooo YA.**

 **Also, I will add it to the description or something of the story but just know that there will be lots of talk about suicide/depression and other stuff in here. Percy and Annabeth, along with most of the other characters in this story, have crappy lives. I'm sorry, but realistically, when someone's beating you up every day or saying rude things to you all the time, people start to think darker things. (I won't go into details about cutting and stuff, it's just something that will be mentioned a lot throughout the story). Also, lots of swearing lol.**

 **This story isn't for kids if you haven't noticed before. Anyway, enjoy!**

Annabeth

They didn't speak to each other for a week.

They avoided each other like the plague, only barely registering each other when the Greek project came up. But then, it was almost small comments about when they would do it, what their Greek gods were, and what information they wanted to put on their slides. No funny comments, or half-assed laughter, or small smiles. No 'Wise Girl' or 'Seaweed Brain.' Just two strangers forced, by their hand, to do something neither of them wanted to do.

But they were planning on going to Annabeth's house today - her parents wouldn't be home - where they would work on the project, once again, as strangers, and then go home to their separate worlds and their separate lives where they would continuously ignore each other.

If only it had worked like that.

Everything went downhill pretty fast.

Annabeth already knew that today was going to be a bad day - she could just feel it - but she only soon realized when it was 2 in the morning and her phone started ringing.

She groaned, wiping her eyes away from her face as if to wipe away the fatigue from her eyes as she blindly searched for her phone.

Upon finding it, she snatched it up in victory, a small smile gracing her lips as she opened it up.

Her smile quickly fell.

Because there, right on her phone, was a picture of the familiar blue-eyed boy who she had grown to love. Her heart plummeted to see that he was calling and she ended the call almost immediately, smashing the phone down onto her bedside table.

The ringing became incessant as he rang once, twice, three times and only stopped when Annabeth threw her phone at the wall, cracking it.

Even afterward, she didn't sleep.

The day didn't get any better when a groggy Annabeth strolled into her kitchen.

"Morning," she said, almost to herself, as she made some coffee for herself. She hadn't slept in the past four hours and needed some energy so she made some black coffee, stirring it around aimlessly in her cup.

"Sweetie," a chipper, too fake of a voice, chirped. Annabeth froze, her muscles tense as she glared at Annalise, her step-mother, who seemed unfazed by the anger rising to Annabeth's face. "How is my favorite daughter doing?"

"I'm not your daughter," Annabeth retaliated, furious. "And you are most certainly not my mother."

Annalise scoffed, putting a small hand on her heart as she pursed her lips. "We won't have that type of attitude in this house, alright sweetie? I try my best and-"

"You try your best to ruin my life," Annabeth snarled back. "And I won't let you do that."

She glared at Annabeth but Annabeth just sauntered away, keeping her coffee close and her walls closer.

Annabeth most often ignored her family, willing to believe they weren't real, but sometimes they would find her before she could hide. And in those cases, even when Annabeth told them to 'fuck off' in the nicest way, really, they would never oblige. Maybe they liked making her life more disastrous than she needed it to be.

She sighed. _Remind yourself_ , she thought. _They'll be gone for their lovely honeymoon. Be thankful._

And thankful Annabeth was as she adjusted her backpack and began walking to school. She met up with Thalia as she waved to her. She didn't know why Thalia wanted to be her friend despite her cousin's hatred towards her, but she was still thankful towards her every day. Though she didn't sit with them at lunch anymore - the awkward silence between Percy and Annabeth was apparent along with Rachel's immense hatred towards her - Thalia still took time out of her other friends to speak with Annabeth, which made her feel good about herself. Despite her good academic grades, and the fact that she wasn't overly rude to everyone, not a lot of people ever really cared for her, she realized. And in doing that, she realized that she didn't necessarily care for herself either.

"Hey," Thalia said, meeting Annabeth next to her locker. "You look like you haven't slept in months."

"Yeah, you could say that," Annabeth said, just as she yawned. She took a swig of her coffee, letting the bitterness seep inside her throat and the caffeine run through her veins.

"Are you alright," Thalia said after a moment. "You look really out of it."

"I'm fine," Annabeth lied and Thalia snorted. She didn't push her on the subject though, which made Annabeth sigh in relief.

"Just let me know if my cousin does anything to you," she says, eyeing Annabeth. "Cause if he did, he'll be swimming with the fishes." Annabeth laughed, raising an eyebrow at her spiky black-haired mess of a friend.

"I thought you said he liked swimming?"

"Not when I'm through with him," she mutters darkly, and Annabeth chuckles.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," she says, walking towards English.

"Remind yourself," Thalia teases, stepping inside the classroom. "Lord knows you probably have a better memory than I do."

For most of the day, it went better than expected. Percy and Annabeth ignored each other once again in math, and Thalia was still fond of Annabeth in her classes even if she was the school's major brainiac. All was fine until she had gone to Mr. Brunner's class, sitting behind Rachel and Percy like always.

It started off normal, with her answering everything right and pretending not to hear Percy snort from in front of her until she felt a small ball of paper hit the side of her cheek. Looking up, she found an amused Percy who points to the paper ball he had thrown at her. Rolling her eyes, she picked it up, unraveling it so that she can see the whole message.

 _You look like shit_ , it reads and Annabeth glares at Percy before writing something back.

 _Right back at ya, bud._

 _Sureeeee as if I don't see you checking me out._

 _I don't check you out, doofus._

 _Really? Why do you stare at my back all the time?_

Annabeth chuckled, as she whispered to him, "You're that stupid, aren't you?"

He turned to her with both his eyebrows raised. "What makes you think that," he asks. She doesn't miss the glare that Rachel shoots at her but she chooses to ignore it. Rachel can glare at her all she wants, but two could play at that game. She glared back at her before looking at an amused Percy.

"Jealous, now are we," he asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

She rolls her eyes. "As if."

"C'mon, " he coaxed. "Just admit it, Wise Girl."

"Don't call me that, _Seaweed Brain_ ," she snapped, glaring at him.

"Well, don't call me 'Seaweed Brain' either. It's stupid."

Hurt flashed through her for a second but she quickly pulled her mask even tighter over her face. Quietly, she says, "You used to love it back then."

"Back then," Percy seethed, his words dripping with so much venom. "But not anymore."

Before she can retaliate, Mr. Brunner slammed his hand on Percy's desk, making both of us jump.

"Are you two both done," Mr. Brunner asks, angrily pointing at Annabeth and Percy. "We can hear you two bickering from the front."

"Sorry," she muttered, playing with the small of her necklace without realizing it.

Percy, noticing this, balls his fist up and before he can stop himself he asks, "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

Mr. Brunner raises an eyebrow. "Why? Was it filled with flirtatious jokes or something?"

Annabeth face grows hot with embarrassment as Percy shrugs.

" _Or something_ ," Percy says calmly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Percy," Annabeth whisper screeches but he ignores her.

"Maybe the bitch will finally get detention," she can hear from Rachel, whispering to her other friend, Drew. "Percy'll probably mess with her before leaving her alone." The two snicker and her face grow even hotter as she glares at the two of them who just give her wickedly, innocent looks.

Annabeth's glare hardens causing Rachel and Drew to turn away, terrified. She internally smirks at their cowardice, before turning towards Mr. Brunner.

"Perhaps," he says, finally coming to a decision. "Maybe it's best you two finish this conversation during detention today."

Before Annabeth can stop herself, she yells, "What?"

"You heard me," he says, unfazed by her screeching and yelling. "Detention till 5. After school."

Percy beams as Annabeth glares at him ruthlessly, hoping he feels guilty.

"Good going, Percy," she says, anger seeping into her words. "Because of your smart mouth, we're stuck in detention now!" She exasperatedly threw her hands up, sighing with hatred for a certain raven-haired boy.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly, so quietly that she almost doesn't hear it. When she does though, she can't hide the smirk on her face.

She leans back in her chair, saying as quietly as she can, "Yeah." She looks at her paper in disgust. "I am too."

"Detention with my brother sounds like hell," Thalia replied when she relayed the information to her only friend.

"I know," Annabeth said, sighing. "What happened to him?"

"Well in high school, during sophomore year he turned into what you see now. Ever since he and Rachel broke it off."

"Why did they break it off," she asks and Thalia shrugs.

"Rachel's a bitch," she responds, flatly. Annabeth laughs.

"That," she muses. "I agree with."

"Just be careful of him, okay," Thalia sputters before she can stop herself. Annabeth raises an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"The reason he probably got you into detention was so that he could fool around with you." She gives her a brisk smile. "I don't want you getting

hurt."

She shook her head. "Don't worry. I'm sure he wouldn't do anything to me."

"That's what every girl says," she mutters. "And then they get their heartbroken."

"Well, Thalia Grace, I am positive he won't hurt me."

She raises both her eyebrows - she can't raise one either - asking, "And why might you say that?"

"Because," she smirks, walking away. Before she can keep walking she turns around to face Thalia. "I won't let him."

It almost seems cliche that the detention is down in the basement as Annabeth walks down the long corridor, making a swift left. She comes to a worn out door that is barely staying on its hinges as she walks in, closing the door swiftly behind her. Inside, it almost looks like a normal classroom. Manilla desks are lined up in rows facing the whiteboard, and the teacher's desk - an untidy mess - is stationed on the right side of the classroom. There, standing in the front is Mr. Brunner, and sitting nonchalantly in his chair was the great Percy Jackson, in all his wonderful glory, sitting in the back of the room.

Annabeth makes a proper decision by sitting in the front as Mr. Brunner gives her a warm smile before beginning. "No phones, or music, or anything fun will be allowed while you are here." He says the lines almost practiced, as if he's said it a million times, before pointing to a wooden table in the front of the table. "There is work you can do if you're bored, but if not, you are allowed to sit and do absolutely nothing.

"No talking," he drones on, looking at Percy before saying, "Or any funny business…" Annabeth's face turns bright red, and for the first time in awhile, it seems as though even his cheeks are tinted red. Mr. Brunner chuckles before looking at me directly in the eye. "Tell me if he does anything bad, would ya?" To add to the embarrassment, he winks, which just makes her face even more bright red. She nods silently and he smiles before taking his bag with him. "Well then," he says tiredly. "I'll be off. Also, don't forget about the cameras." WIth one last wink, he left the room and the tension almost immediately filled the small, cramped classroom. Percy sighs, stretching his arms and using them as a pillow as he stuffed his face in.

"What are you doing," Annabeth questions, forgetting about the cameras. Annabeth is a goody-goody, but if she got the chance to have another detention and skip being at home, then she would take it. Anything to get away from that hellhole.

Percy, as if reading her thoughts, looked up at her with an amused smile on his face. "Miss. Annabeth Chase, no talking or any funny business," he said, impersonating their teacher and she chuckles.

"Well, I'm a rebel," she says and gives him a teasing look. "Deal with it."

He raises both his eyebrows somehow in respect. "Annabeth Chase, breaking the rules? Never heard of it."

"Never would've broken the rules if it hadn't been for you."

The room suddenly is fraught with silence as she turns around to look at him. There's a flash of hurt on his face, for a mere second, before he's smirking at her again. "Well, now you shouldn't be too mad, seeing as you are a rebel."

She smirks before turning around, almost getting out of the chair to get some work. She was quickly becoming tired with boredom as she leans against her chair, watching her eyelids grow dimmer by the second.

She's almost fast asleep when she hears a yawn from behind her and turns to see Percy almost falling out of his chair. She bursts out laughing, almost free and full of happiness before she covers her mouth with a smile hidden from him. She promised herself on the plane ride back to Manhattan that people would never see a true, real emotion from her. Chuckling and small, controlled laughter was fine but crying? Full on laughing? Never again.

The fact that she almost had, just now, had made her panic. She may not be warming up to Manhattan yet - she still forgets half of where anything is - but she can't deny that she's warming up to the people here.

Percy, upon recovering from his near face-plant with the ground, studies her intensely, almost trying to figure out what's wrong. She's about to look away from his stare, from his gorgeous sea-green eyes and his tousled hair when he almost consciously shakes his head, looking away from her as he stretched his arm out. "I'm bored," he whined, laying his head on the cold desk.

" _Me too_ ," I drawled in the same whiny voice he had and he suddenly sits up, smirking widely at her.

"I have an idea," he says, getting up from his seat and walking over to her.

She gulps. "No messing around," she says, moving away to sit away from where he was seated.

He watches her amusedly before giving her a small smile. "Relax," he says, his voice smooth and rich. "I wouldn't do anything to you."

"Okay...," she says, not exactly trusting him as she stays rooted to her spot.

He sighs, running his hands through his already unruly hair. "You wanna play I Spy?"

She smiles teasingly at him, cocking her eyebrow to the right. "'I Spy?"

He grits his teeth but smiles widely at her. "Yep." He smirks. "I Spy."

"Should I be worried here?"

He thinks about it for a moment before responding, "Nope."

"Right," she drawls. "Cause that makes me feel better."

He smiles before looking around the little room. "I Spy with my little eye…" he looks around the room giddily, his eyes trying to find something. His eyes light up and he turns to me, giving me a small smile. "I Spy with my little eye something red!"

"Give me another hint," she says, not bothering to look around.

"You didn't even look around," he exclaims indignantly.

"I did," she says, winking. "You just didn't see it."

He huffed. "Whatever. Just… look around again."

Obediently, she looked around the classroom and suddenly realized many things were red. The clock hanging from the wall, the desk, some of the binders, and even the ink on the whiteboard. She looked around to find a pink shoe, probably one of the teachers too, and she internally smiled. It was a cute shoe.

When she turned around, she told Percy every guess she had except for the shoe because it was pink, not red. When Percy made a _tsk tsk_ sound, she threw her hands up, resting it on her face.

"I just don't know what it is," she exclaimed, feeling a headache come on. She didn't like losing, ever, even in the first round and to lose to Percy? _Seaweed Brain_? Well, that was hard to swallow.

"Any more guesses," he asked her, smirking, as she looked around the room for anything else that was red.

She points a cold, hard finger at him. "Oh shut up, you, you _player_!"

Percy grinned. "That's me."

Annabeth huffed, looking at Percy with incredulous eyes. "Alright, what is it?"

Percy pointed towards the pink shoe and smiled at her when she narrowed his eyes at him.

"Hey, you lost," he reminded her with a smirk. "Don't get mad at me."

"That shoe is not red," she said, turning towards him with narrowed eyes.

He gulped and scratched his head. "What?"

"I told you," Annabeth said with controlled anger, "that shoe is not red."

"Then what color is it?"

"It's pink, you idiot!"

He took a closer look at it, furrowing his eyes in confusion. "No that's definitely red."

"Pink," she corrected him.

"Are you color blind? It' clearly red."

"Pink!"

"Red!"

"Pink!"

"Red!"

They glared at each other, both stubbornly not giving up as their eyes bore into each other. They were acting like kids, fighting like cats and dogs over the color of a shoe, but when two people were that competitive and that stubborn, they would go all out to prove they were right.

Percy broke the staring contest looking at the shoe before smiling at her. She was instantly suspicious.

He sighed. "One point goes to Annabeth."

She looked at him incredulously. "Seriously?"

He grinned. "Seriously."

"But why?"

Now he smirked, looking straight at her. "Because you're obviously color blind so I had to give you a point for pity."

She balled her fist and giving him a forced smile, repeating, "I. Am. _Not_. Color. Blind." Her teeth clenched and her eyes narrowed at him.

He smiled at her teasingly and instead of starting another fight with her he calmly gestured to the classroom. "Your turn," he says, grinning at her. "Try not to make it too hard."

She smirked. "I'll try."

They played another round - in which he won - before _he_ texted with her other phone. She didn't even know _he_ knew that she had another number. But whatever the case, he had found her, and now felt the need to start up a conversation. Did he not get it through his head? She hated him for what he did to her, and she never wanted to speak to him again. Her jaw clenched and without her realizing, she quickly turned the phone off. Her face grew hot full of anger and she almost felt tears forming in her eyes. She shook her head, running a hand through her curly, blonde hair. _Calm down_ , a voice in her mind told her. She did. She did because she wanted to; she did because she felt the need to; she did because she _had_ too. Because even if she wanted to break down, right then and there, she couldn't. She wouldn't.

"Are you alright," a voice, she realizes is Percy, asks. "You look really…"

"Tired," she said, finishing his sentence. "Yeah, I'm really tired."

"Are you okay," he asks her again, firmly, and when she looks at him she almost sees a hint of worry in his eyes.

She smiles a small one that doesn't reach her eyes. "Fine," she says loudly, for her more than him before looking around the room. "Your turn."

He doesn't even wait to look around as he says, '"Something broken."

She instantly pointed at the slightly unhinged door. "Looks like it's about collapse at any moment."

"Nope."

She turned towards the slightly cracked window. As an afterthought, she says, "Some kids must've hit it with a rock or something."

"Nope."

"Um," she says, looking around the room. She mutters, "It better not be another goddamn shoe or something."

At this, Percy smiles. "Don't worry," he says giving her a wry smile. "It isn't."

She sighed. "Another hint."

"Well," he started, "It's quite sad lots of time, it seems like it has gone through a lot and is more tired of people and life, then just tired in general."

She stared at him, a small lump forming in her throat but she quickly coughs, hiding her emotions. "Anything else," she asks, hoarsely.

He smiled a bitter smile and looked at her eyes, sea-green meeting her steely gray eyes. "It isn't exactly an 'it.'"

She stares at him with a look of absolute horror before staring at her hands. What was she supposed to say? She couldn't outright say it, not to him. Not to her former best friend, not to the first love of her life, not to this new Percy. _No_ , her thoughts said for her. _You can't let him in._

So, looking towards him and staring at his sea-green eyes she says, so quietly, "You."

Swallowing, he looks at her and their eyes tell it all. The pain, the agony of just living, how broken they truly are and how they just hide behind their masks: it's all there.

And she can see it clearly.

Clearing his throat, he looks at his hands. "Ditto."

She smiles solemnly, looking at her desk. "Another point for the great Percy Jackson."

He smiles at her, clearing his throat once more. "Looks like we're tied," after a moment, he adds, "again."

Chuckling, she mentally adds another point to each of their names making it 2 points for Annabeth, and two for Percy.

"What's wrong," Percy suddenly asks. She raises an eyebrow and he huffs. "I'm not fooled, Annabeth. I know when you're lying."

"Do you now," she drawls, looking towards him. He was a few feet from her, at least 5 desks away but she still wished they were farther apart.

"Well, you aren't the only one."

"Really," he says, rolling his eyes. "And what, exactly, do you see?"

"You want to know?" When he nods, she says, "I see a scared, broken boy who plays with girls because he's afraid to get too close to one.

"I see a guy who's been broken for a long time, probably hurt really bad by the people he trusted, and now he's afraid to trust ever again.

"I see a lot of good things, and none of them great, especially when people have to warn me because my former best friend might 'mess around with me.' Percy, what happened to you?"

When she meets his eyes, pain crosses his dark, lifeless eyes before he covers it up, putting on a passive look. "Nothing," he says, coughing slightly before looking at her. "I'm better off this way."

"No, you're not," she said, almost pleading with him. "You're not better off this way."

"Really," he scoffs. "Well it seems to me, I'm doing fine on my own."

"Look," she said, trying to reason with him. "Whatever's going on in your life seems to be destroying it, but it doesn't mean that it has to destroy you too."

His voice comes off broken and defeated as he shrugs. "Hasn't it already?"

They're quiet for a while, letting the tension seep in. They can hear the trees ruffling in the air, the sounds of the birds chirping at each other. They can feel the sun burning through their skin, trying to get past their walls and their masks, trying to intrude in the places where they are unwanted.

Annabeth almost wished it was raining all the time. At least then, the weather would correspond with how she felt. Because she felt like crap all the time, and she wished so desperately for the pain to all go away. For it to only exist in non-existence so that she could be happy. Joyous, and carefree, and _happy_.

She wanted that so much.

"Well, " Percy said, breaking through the thick tension that seemed to fill the empty silence. "You want to know what I think of you?" He doesn't wait for her response as he continues, "I think you're just a goody two shoes who thinks that if she does everything right, and says the right thing, that everything else in life will correct itself. Well, reality check for you? It doesn't. Here's a fact that you can put in your brain, _Wise Girl,_ " he says the name mockingly and she flinches at the sound of his voice. "Nothing will ever get better in life so there's no point in trying to. Life is absolute shit, and it will never, ever get better. Got that?"

A small tear slips past her face as she tries to conceal it, wiping it away hastily. Shakily, but as firmly as possible so he doesn't see how weak she is, she says, "Go to hell, Percy."

"Gladly," he responds.

They don't talk for the rest of detention.

 **Alright, that was it, thank you so much for reading! I'll see you in the next update!**


	7. Chapter 6: Project Planning

**Hey, sorry for the short update but I figure a short update is better than no update, so here it is!**

 **I hope you all liked it, even though I hate it, and here it goes.**

 **Warning: THERE'S SMALL PERACHEL IN THIS. I SWEAR IT'S SMALL.**

 **Also, quick little thanks to every person who reads this story! You guys are the best!**

Percy:

Percy was fuming as he made his way out of the school, Annabeth's words still engrained in his head.

 _What the hell did she know_ , Percy thought, balling his fists. _And why the hell was he so angry?_

He knew he was arguing with his brain - something that made him believe he was crazy - but if he couldn't tell anyone about his problems, he'd rather rant about it all with his own mind, even if it made him a little crazy.

And that's exactly what he would've done if a certain redhead stopped him in his tracks.

She was leaning against his blue Prius, gently petting the hood as if it were her child. He also noticed what she was wearing: denim short shorts, and a V-neck that revealed too much then need be.

He ignored the slight flutter in his heart as he made it over to her, furious. "What the hell are you doing here," he sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh, you know," she says seductively, laying a soft hand on his elbow. He feels himself breaking down, almost obligingly welcoming himself into her loving hands, but stops himself. He curses himself for falling into her trap, for being affected by one goddamned touch. _No_ , he reminds himself as he looks at Rachel, one of the prettiest and yet manipulative girls he ever knew. _You can't love her anymore. You can't trust her. Never again._

So instead of melting into her touch, embracing her like he wanted to, he held his ground, glaring at her.

He shook his hand off of hers, ignoring how hurt she looks. "Are you that desperate?"

"Percy…" she says, her eyes wide.

"Word of advice?" He took his keys out giving her a pointed look. "Stay away from me."

"But Percy…"

"No," he finally said, shoving her away. "Haven't you done enough?"

"Percy, I don't know…"

"I saw you with _him_ ," he spits. "I saw you with Ethan and I just wanted to say that I hope it works out for you."

She looks shocked, her mouth falling open. "How did you…?"

"Thought you could still play me? Like old times?" He shook his head. "I'm not that naive Rachel. Now take my advice and leave me the hell alone."

Rachel's eyes began to water, one, maybe two drops of tears spill over, and Percy has the sudden urge to wipe it away. To caress her cheek, to give her a small smile, to see her smile back.

But he can't go back to those times; back to the times when he was naive and stupid and thought the whole world was filled with happiness. As if after Annabeth left, that was the worst of it. Like nothing could be worse that. Like everything would be okay.

But as he slammed the car door, shifting the car and backing out of the parking spot he knew, really knew, that things would never go back to the way it was.

That happily ever after's didn't come true.

Like nothing in the world would truly be okay.

Percy had such a bad day that Percy didn't care when he came home to a passed out Gabe, four empty beer cans next to him.

He instead locked himself in his room, putting headphones on as he lay on his small, wooden bed in silence.

Annabeth's words plagued him and he tried not to remember them as he felt his eyelids closing.

" _I see a scared, broken boy who plays with girls because he's afraid to get too close to one._

" _I see a guy who's been broken for a long time, probably hurt really bad by the people he trusted, and now he's afraid to trust ever again."_

It surprised him how much she knew of him, how she could read him as well as he could read her. Though they had both tried to cover it up Percy knew, and surely Annabeth knew too, that what they had said was true.

Which left an empty feeling in his chest. He hoped no one else could see the pain etched in his eyes, his fake smiles that didn't reach his eyes. The somewhat somber he looks he only carried for those he cared about, the way he held himself together like it was the last day to live.

And the scars. The bruises that couldn't be covered by makeup, the red, angry marks, the scratches and cuts he's made by himself.

Percy always wondered that despite the fact that he slept with tons of women, each day almost every day of his life, that they never noticed.

Maybe they never cared enough.

Then how did Annabeth see past it all?

His subconscious nearly laughed at its stupidity, and he could almost see it rolling his eyes.

 _Because she cares about you, dumbass._

He let his eyes close as he slept. There were no nightmares that night, and he slept with a small smile on his face.

He woke up the next morning with the knock on his door. In came his timid mother, who gave him a small smile before sitting on the edge of his bed, ruffling his air.

She grimaced at the feeling of the bed, shaking her head. "One of these days, we'll have to change this bed of yours."

She always told him this, every day when she woke him up for school, but he knew she would never get him one. They never had enough money - even with the extra shifts and two jobs she was taking - it was never enough.

Nothing was enough these days.

Percy quirked his eyes when he saw what she was wearing. Over her work clothes was a white apron, faded by blue dye over the years. This wouldn't have been surprising if they hadn't been living with Gabe, who absolutely hated blue food, but they were. Unfortunately, they were and they couldn't do anything about that.

When Sally Jackson, Percy's mother, realized what he was staring at she smiled at him, her soft fingers running through his long, shaggy jet-black hair.

"I made some blue cookies if you'd like some," she offers, raising her eyebrows at him and winking.

He immediately sits up, running past his mother with a giddy expression. But his giddy smile froze as he looked back at his mother, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Did he do anything to you?"

Sally's face looks confused. "What do you mean?"

He sighs. "Did he do anything more to you this time? Because if he did-"

"Percy, he did nothing to me." She smiles a genuine one that makes his heart stutter with relief.

"That's good," he says, his tense shoulders relaxing.

"You know what's better?"

A small smile graces his lips. "What could be better than blue cookies?"

She smiles. "Gabe left to a friend's house."

Percy can't help it; tears start threatening to fall. "He did _what_ ," Percy asks, his voice wavering.

"He'll be gone for a week."

Percy can't help but throw his bruised, beaten arms - the ones all made by Gabe - around his mom as he pulls her, never once wanting to leave her.

He wants to keep holding her there, knowing that they'll protect each other, that they'll never let go but sooner or later they have too.

Figuratively and literally, they had to let go.

But for now, Percy was happy as his mother grinned at him. "Now," she says, walking to the door. "Let's see how those cookies came out."

Percy can't help the small grin that graced his lips as he walked into the school, ignoring the whispers and the stares. The girls all blushed when he winked at them, and the guys send him glares as they hold their girlfriends closer to themselves. Percy internally smirks as he makes it to his lockers, checking his phone.

"Hi," a sultry voice says next to him and he turns to look at her. _Ah_ , he thinks as he remembers her. _Drew Tanaka._

"Yes," he says in a sing-song fashion.

"You wanna go somewhere...," she pauses, leaning closer to his ear. " _Private_." He loved this part of the day.

"Of course," he says, putting one hand on the small of her back and pushing her gently so that they could leave.

They walked towards a janitor's closet, hearing small voices look back at them as if they were insane. Truthfully, they only had 8 minutes before school started but Percy knew how to get the girl in 5.

And they never complained.

Percy sees a wisp of blonde hair as he looks over his shoulders to see Annabeth and Thalia looking at them. Percy gulps, not at the glare he's receiving from Thalia, but from the disappointed look, Annabeth made. As if she expected something more from him.

He looks away before he does something stupid, looking at Drew who gives him a seductive smile.

"You have a condom, right," she asks, ushering him over to a small closet. Almost to herself, she adds, "Lord knows I can't get pregnant again."

Before Percy can ask her what that means, or warn her that he doesn't, she's already pushing the door open, using her tan legs to kick it close as he works on taking off her clothes.

 _Life couldn't get any better for him_ , he thinks as she leans towards him, pressing small kisses along his jaw.

Percy makes it to math with Mrs. Dodds, the happiest smile on his face. One: after three years of torture, Gabe has finally left the house and two: he had just gotten laid. How could life get worse?

Well, life could get worse when Annabeth Chase, the blonde-headed beauty, was brought back into the mix. She's wearing a large grey sweatshirt with the words 'Yale' written over it, and peaking under it he can see a pink shirt. Her black, yoga pants really give him lots to imagine as he can't help but stare at her.

For someone so evil, she was deathly gorgeous.

He ignores the fact that he shouldn't be thinking like this, especially around his former best friend, as he plasters a fake smile, sitting down to see Mrs. Dodd's confused look.

Percy only winks.

"Wow, aren't you a flirt…" Annabeth says, looking at him amused.

He balls his fist, clenching his teeth. "Yeah? So?"

She shrugs her shoulder and says nothing.

He doesn't question her as he squints at the board, his anger and annoyance growing as he barely focuses on the letters and numbers switching between each other like a game of musical chairs.

"Dyslexia," Annabeth asks, and Percy's head snaps towards her.

" _Excuse me,_ " he asks, glaring at her.

She smiles, soft and kindly. There isn't one trace of sympathy as she looks at him. "Is it the dyslexia?" He nods, forgetting he told her this a long time. He pretends to ignore the tingles that shot up his arm as he realizes Annabeth remembered that from years ago. Maybe because she had a great memory, or maybe because she actually cared, he didn't know, but he was still shocked and stunned by just how much she remembered of him.

And, more importantly, how much he remembered her.

Her golden locks blowing in the sunset, making her look like a goddess when she was only ten. The weird faces she made about everything he said, how she jokingly chastised him for being a Seaweed Brain. Her helping him with his Halloween costume, or his English homework, or with his family problems like she understands like she knew what it felt like to be Percy Jackson.

And in a way, he knew what it really meant to be Annabeth Chase.

He remembers sitting with her at lunch when she would feign confidence even when kids stomped all over it, how she would break down and cry at the world's unfairness at their special place, a bench near a small pond at the local park.

He remembers helping her with athletics, defending her against Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

He remembers everything about her, about her love for Harry Potter at such a young age, how she strived to be Hermione Granger and find her own Ron Weasley which he so often thought about himself. He remembers her stages in life when puberty happened, and acne formed and all the rest of the… _girly stuff_ , but how they still had Friday Nights to watch movies and play with anything they could find.

He remembers her grey eyes, her startling grey eyes, her wide, humorous grey eyes, her happy, excited her grey eyes, her pained, sad grey eyes.

He remembered the clothes she used to wear and the awkward, round glasses she used to have to wear. Her blond hair escaping out of her ponytail.

She remembered lots about him which seemed to scare him but what seemed even scarier was the fact that he remembered so much about her, and was easily ready to defend her as soon as the time came up for it.

 _That's_ what scared him most.

She looks at the board before saying, "y=4x+5," she says, writing down the problem while looking over Percy's shoulder to make sure he had written it to. She grins, mischief and amusement showing in her eyes. "You think you can solve for x?"

He smirks, stretching his hands. "You're on."

After too much trash talk of Percy continuously saying "I'll eat your brains out," Annabeth, unsurprisingly, beats Percy but by only a few questions as they hand their papers in. Mrs. Dodd's giving him a perplexed look in which he shrugs his shoulders, giving her a lopsided grin.

She just stares at him in shock, then at Annabeth in wonder, as she grades the papers enthusiastically.

The two walk out, exchanging small, awkward waves before leaving to pretend they don't exist once again. Before Annabeth can leave though, Percy shoots out his arm, making her turn back to him.

"What," she asks him, confused.

He scratches his back. "Come to my house tonight," he says. "We'll work on the project then."

She raises an eyebrow. "What if I had something to do? Would you still be ordering me around?"

He shakes his head, grinning. "No, because you would've told me by then."

She cocks her head to the left. "How do you know so much about me?"

He smiles playfully, tugging at the strings attached to her sweatshirt, pulling her closer. "Because I know you, Wise Girl," he says in her ear flirtatiously as he loosens his grip on his sweatshirt, waving. "See ya later, Wise Girl!"

Annabeth scowled, blushing slightly as everyone turned to stare at her. Percy grinned at her before sprinting off towards his next class.

"Don't call me that," was the last thing he heard from her and he couldn't help but smile a genuine smile.

He would never stop calling her that.

 **Okay, so before everyone goes confused on me and thinks this is a Perachel fanfiction, it isn't! It's just proving that Percy still cares a lot about Rachel, despite his growing feelings for Annabeth. I went a little more in-depth with Gabe, and with the Percy and Rachel break-up and Annabeth of course, but next Percy chapter will be lots more developing into the character he is vs the character he truly is. I think Annabeth's been fleshed out well enough for these first couple chapters so I might not too much with her character (maybe talk more about her family) but there will be tons more Percabeth next chapter! I'm hoping it's longer; it probably will be.**

 **Anyway, you didn't really care much about that stuff so whatever I'm just kind of making a plan for what's to come next.**

 **Well hope you all enjoyed, and next chapter will definitely hold more Percabeth!**

 **Also, feel free to share any mistakes that I've made or any suggestions about this story. I wrote this chapter at around three thirty and I'm so tired right now like you don't understand. I NEED SLEEP!**

 **Anyway, see ya in the next update!**


	8. Chapter 7: Blue Pineapples

**HEY, EVERYONE! My hand is cramping so I'm going to make this short. I hope you like the chapter, it's super long to make up for the long time I've been away, and yeah! Just hope you enjoy it!**

 **(Always forget these) Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON OR HOO OR RICKY POO OR ANYONE! ALRIGHT, CONTINUE ON.**

 **Also, last warning, there is going to be swearing so if you are sensitive to that stuff, then this story (or any other story ever to be made by me) will not be for you. Anyway, enjoy!**

Chapter 8: Blue Pineapples (based on a commenter's name. Check them out!)

Annabeth:

"I don't like this idea," Thalia commented, as Annabeth told her what Percy wanted her to do.

"Thals, nothing is going to happen."

"You don't know that," she says, eyeing her warily. "I know you escaped detention and all, but his house? Hell, I don't even know if half of the girls he fucks go there!"

"Well then, that means I'm special," she says, sticking her tongue out. When she sees Thalia isn't amused, she sighs. "Thalia he won't do anything to me. Have faith in your cousin."

"I do," Thalia persisted. "I have faith that he'll hurt you."

"And I have faith that he won't," Annabeth retorted.

Thalia shook her head, sighing. "How are you so sure?"

She shrugs. She thought about telling her their history but then thought against it; she didn't want to see the reaction that Thalia would make and maybe these were her trust issues speaking, but she was afraid that if she told her the entire school would know and she didn't want that. "I don't know, I just am."

"That's not good enough."

Annabeth huffs. "What's gotten into you? You know I'm much stronger. If he even tried to hurt me, I would've hurt him much more." She looks, studies her friend, and raises her eyebrow.

Thalia has her usual spiky, black hair flowing down her back as her electric blue eyes look misty. Her pose is rigid, almost like a tree, and her black clothing seems to be even darker than usual.

Annabeth rests a soft hand on Thalia's back. "Hey," she says soothingly, looking intently at her friend. "Are you okay?"

She sighs. Her spiky, black hair falls around her face as her electric blue eyes shine up at her, bitterly. "My friend, Jessica, was in love with Percy," she says slowly, letting every word sink in as if it meant the world to her. " She kept telling me that she wouldn't get hurt by the player, that she would change him. We even came up with a plan and everything." She rubs her back and looks at the school floor as if it was something ancient. As if it were something worth looking at.

Anything but Annabeth.

"What happened," Annabeth asks softly, as she watches Thalia, waiting for her to say something more.

"She got her heart broken, of course. Percy didn't even bat an eye when I told him what a horrible jerk he was." She looks at her, her smile bitter. "And then she left, and I never heard from her again."

"Oh," is all she says, as she pats Thalia's back. She's more than happy when Thalia pushes her hand away, reverting back to the Thalia she knew and loved.

"You're acting like Jessica again, is all I'm saying." Then, almost in a whisper, "Don't fall for his tricks. He learned from the best." Her eyes latch on something or someone, and when she turns there are Percy and Rachel yelling at each other, per usual.

"He still cares about her," she says, almost to herself.

Thalia snorts. "He doesn't care about anyone." She looks at Annabeth casually, shrugging her shoulders. "He never has."

"He _has_ ," Annabeth says before she can stop herself. "I'm sure he has."

She snorts once again, rolling her eyes. "Keep dreaming, Annie," before she can yell at her for calling her Annie, Thalia is already leading her to the cafeteria, muttering under her breath. "Women are so naive."

Annabeth almost breaks her neck as she drags her along to the cafeteria.

Class is boring as usual until Greek Mythology class when he called again.

The sound seemed to ring in her ears as she shoved her phone deep into her backpack, not daring to look at it once more. It kept ringing for the longest time, the sound bouncing off walls in the barely silent room and she hoped to God no one noticed it.

Percy noticed it.

He raised both eyebrows at her and she just glared until the ringing stopped and she let out a breath. Her shoulders visibly sagged, as if she had finally gotten something off her chest as if the world was spinning on its axis once more, as if she felt free and safe and okay for once, and everything was going to be fine.

Percy clears his throat for the fifth time and she almost chokes him as she asks, "What?"

"Are you okay," he asks slowly, raising his eyebrows, almost in concern.

She almost chokes at the sincerity in his voice. "Why are you asking?"  
He shrugs. "No reason." A pause, then, "You looked troubled."

"Oh," she says, looking down at her shoes. Rachel seemed to be eyeing her wickedly before turning towards the class once more and Annabeth hunched in her seat. "Well, I'm not," is all she says as she tries to study the board.

It doesn't work as Percy looks at her, studying her, calculating her every move with his gorgeous green eyes. She meets his eyes, trying to show defiance in the way she looked but fails miserably when she can hear the phone ring once more.

Percy evidently can see it in her, she can tell that much. She can see the pain and the anguish, the fear of the truth and the fear of the lies and so she's opening her mouth, preparing a long speech when he stops her with, "Okay."

"What," Annabeth asked.

"Okay," he says, scratching the back of his neck. More quietly, only that she could hear her did he say, "I believe you."

After one more warning, she drove to the address Percy texted her (Thalia gave her his number) and parked, stepping out of her car. The address had led to a run-down apartment building that seemed to come off as a well-spent, wonderful home.

She opened the big, burly door, and asked the desk person if they knew where Percy lived. She thought it was weird that she gave her a sympathetic look after that, showing her room 26 on the third floor. Thanking her, she made it towards the elevator.

Just as she was leaving the elevator, she bumped into someone. She looked up to find a Percy, who was ruffling his hair in embarrassment. She grinned, a real grin, at that because that was the Percy she knew. The boy who would go red at the sound of anything perverted, the boy who was afraid of heights and the person who would do anything for someone, whether they were his best friend or a stranger.

He hauled himself off the floor, and said, "Sorry." Then, "I wasn't looking."

"Well," she says, getting up from the grey, carpeted floor. "At least you said sorry."

"That's my room," he says hooking his thumb behind him. He scratched the back of his head. "I was, uh, actually going to get you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Were you?"

He smirked at that, reverting back to the Percy 2.0, the new Percy. "Yeah, I was planning on being a real gentleman."  
She snorts, shaking her head. "Oh Percy." she patted his shoulder. "You could never be a real gentleman."

"You don't know that."

She narrows her eyes at him. "You play with girls all the time."

"But if I really tried," he says, trying to redeem himself. "I'm sure I could do it."

"Well, tell me when you can."

He opens the door for her and Annabeth scowls at him, causing him to laugh.

His apartment is just how she remembered it to be. Blue painted walls, an unmade living room with a small table near it, a hallway leading to two rooms and the kitchen, where the smell of blue cookies wafted through.

 _Home_ , she thought. _It smells like home._

The biggest grin falls across her face and when she looks at Percy, he finds that he's grinning as well.

"Oh Percy, I have the cookies on the counter," a very familiar voice calls, and Annabeth's heart lifts as she remembers the caring, compassionate Sally Jackson, who always wore her blue-stained apron.

And there she is, standing near the kitchen, with the same 'My Mother's The Best' blue stained apron on.

"Annabeth," Sally calls, her eyes widening on the blonde haired girl standing before her.

"That's me," she says, embracing Sally when she goes to hug her. Her hug feels motherly and Annabeth loves the feeling of being in her arms. Like she's truly loved like she's truly cared for like she has nothing to worry about.

Like Sally Jackson is her mother and Annabeth Chase is her daughter.

They break away and Percy shakes his head, smiling. "You're lucky she didn't choke you."

"It was getting to the point," she says, but she can't help but smile back.

"Cookies," Sally calls from the kitchen. After a second thought, she says, "Only two, Percy!"

"Mom," Percy groans. "I'm a growing boy."

Annabeth snorts. "Definitely growing."

Percy shoots her a playful glare.

They head into the kitchen, a small nook fitted into the edges of the apartment. The cookies are cooling on the counter, and Percy goes to reach one, stopped by his mother.

"They're still hot," she says and Percy scowls.

"They're supposed to be!"

"Percy, do you want a burnt tongue?"

"No," he cries. "I want a cookie!"  
Annabeth can't help but laugh at this. "Percy, you're such a baby."

"Hey," he says, "It's not every day you get blue cookies."

"Well, it should be," she says, taking a cookie and eating it. "Because they're delicious."

Sally gives Percy and Annabeth a small, warm smile. "So, what brings you here, Annabeth? I didn't know you were back in town."

Annabeth shrugs, trying to show indifference. "My step-mom's got a new job here so we decided to move."

Sally nods in understanding. "Well, we're glad you're back."

"I'm happy to be back."

Percy coughs. "So, uh, we're just gonna go to my room now… and stuff."

"You two," Sally says uncertainly. She clears her throat and tries again. "You two… aren't together, right?"

The reaction was instantaneous.

They both start coughing, nearly wheezing at the thought of actually being together. Though they might've been friends before (and have had small crushes on each other) they now hated each other. The thought of them liking each other was almost outrageous.

Or was it?

Annabeth was the first to speak up. "No, Mrs. Jackson. We're not together," before she can say anything else, she says, "we're just working on a project."

A beat, maybe two beats pause before Sally says, "Oh." Then, "For now." She had the audacity to wink.

They didn't start reverting back to their usual color of skin until they finally got into his room with a handful of cookies, closed the door, and got to work.

"Ready," Percy asks, taking out all of their supplies.

She eyes the time. 3:32. She takes a deep breath. "Ready."

"Let's take a break," Percy says after what feels like years of working.

"But we're close to finishing," Annabeth says, looking at the time. She nearly does a double take. "It's 7:19? I need to go!"

She nearly trips out of the room after grabbing her things, whipping out her phone to text her dad. She didn't know what she would tell him - she would make the lie up as she went - but all she knew was she had to leave. Right then.

She didn't know what he would do to her.

Not like he ever hit her. But they would all just gang up on her, one after another, and she couldn't bear to hear what else they had to say.

Lord knows she had lots to say about herself.

"Hey, sweetie, are you okay," Sally asks, sitting upright in her chair. "Is everything alright?"  
"Thanks for the blue cookies, but I have to go," she says, putting on her sneakers.

"Oh, no sweetie you can't go," Sally grips her arm so that she can face her. Annabeth raises an eyebrow and she continues. "There's a storm, a large one." She gulps before saying, "It's not safe to go out."

She smiles. "I'll be careful."

"Sweetie, we don't want you to get hurt." Sally gives her a small smile. "You can stay here until the storm passes."

"Thank you for the offer, but-"  
"No really," Percy says, cutting her off. "It's either us or Mrs. Willow down the hall." Whispering, he says, "She talks about cats. All the time."  
"And that's a bad thing," Annabeth asks, an amused grin plastered across her face.

He smiles back and shrugs. "I'm more of a dog guy."

She nods, taking note of the many dog pictures along the wall before turning towards Sally. "I don't have any clothes to wear."

"You can always borrow mine, sweetie," she chirps, smiling brightly at her. She hands her some clothes, still smiling like a kid as if Christmas had come early or something.

"Is…" Percy asks, suddenly nervous. "Is Gabe coming home tomorrow?"

Sally smiles somberly, looking down at her heels. "I'm not sure," she says. Her smile brightens when she says, "But I know he's not coming today."

She knows there is something suspicious when they both grin at this but she decides not to call them on it. It was their life and their family, and if they were having problems, it wasn't her idea to get wrapped up in it.

God knows she had family issues of her own.

"I'll just get changed then," she says, gesturing to the clothes. They both nod and Annabeth hurries over to Percy's room to change. But before she can, she sees it.

Still plastered across the wall is the collage she gave him five years ago when she was moving away.

It was such a long time ago and yet it still held strong, holding memories and moments that should've been forgotten years ago.

But Annabeth still remembered it all. How could she forget the first boy to ever steal her heart, especially at such a young age?

She didn't know; she didn't want to know why or how she still remembered the memories but as she looked at it, touching it tenderly as if it were a child, she felt a small tear sting against the back of her eyes. She blinked them away, sidling against the other side of the room to change. She didn't want to stare at it even when she could almost feel it burning a hole straight through her body, almost egging her on. She can't believe he kept it. Sure, she had kept the necklace, but him keeping a collage? A paper collage that probably left tons of marks on his fading blue walls?

It glittered with happiness, is what the collage did. It brimmed with happiness, with hope, with friendship beyond all compare and it showed something Annabeth had hidden away all those years ago: Love.

Love, something that was so impossible to get these days.

The collage was burning brightly with love.

She didn't notice she had been staring at the collage until Percy walked in, carrying more blue food. "I'm-" he started before he stopped and saw what she was staring at. He gulped, crossing to her side of the room and started, "Annabeth-"

"You kept it," she says, quietly, playing with her necklace. "You kept it even when I left."

"You kept your gift as well," he says, gesturing towards the necklace. "Even after you left."

"It was the least I could do," she says, letting go of the necklace. They stood in an awkward silence, Percy studying her every move while Annabeth looked at anything but him. She remembered how Luke looked at her like that whenever she was feeling sad, whenever he calmed her demons and held her close, leaning her head against his chest. Whenever he squeezed his eyes, and held her tighter, afraid that in a blink of an eye, she would be gone.

 _Well, she was gone_ , is what she thought. _A_ _nd she's never coming back._

Annabeth looked up at the food options, trying to pick something to eat, trying to ease the tension. She found something and she couldn't help but think that the food was outrageous as she cocked her eyebrow.

"Blue pineapples," Annabeth asked playfully, looking at the peculiar pineapples, cut into miniature slices.

"Hey," he says, picking a piece and eating it. "They're one of my favorites."

"Blue pineapples," she says once more, trying to understand his love for blue pineapples. "How did you…?"

"Blackjacks. The best restaurant around." As an afterthought he says, "And the only one who would make blue food."

"Wow," Annabeth says, shocked. "And they weren't scared of a teenage boy asking for blue food?"  
He laughs, shaking his head. "Wise Girl, I'm sure they've seen worse."

She chuckles, smiling at the nickname. "I'm sure."  
They sit in a comfortable silence as Annabeth shrugs, taking a piece of the blue pineapple. Percy grins when she looks wide-eyed, taking another piece.

After swallowing Annabeth says, "I can't believe you still like blue food."

"Yeah, well, I can't believe you still like it either."

She rolls her eyes. "Let's just say I've been craving blue food for five years."

Percy smiles, a bitter, almost sad smile before saying, "Believe me." He looks down at his fingers. "I have too."

" _Hey, Annabeth," a small voice called from inside. She turned, and there she saw her best friend, Percy Jackson, his lanky body pressed into a navy, blue suit._

 _She couldn't help but smile._

 _They were at their fifth-grade dance, celebrating the ending of elementary school as they would be starting on their middle school years that September._

 _For the special occasion, her mom had forced her into a silky, sleeveless pink dress, her brown boots hiding under the swallowing dress. Annabeth hated the dress with a passion and she almost wanted to shout "This isn't prom," at her mother but instead decided to wear it, hoping it may impress the one boy who made Annabeth's heart leap every time he smiled or laughed._

 _The boy who was making his way over to her right now._

" _Hi," he says again, looking slightly nervous as he looks at her, his face blushing._

 _She can't help but smile. "Hey," she says, and almost smacks her face when she waves her hand in his face._

 _He chuckles, putting a hand in his pocket. "Hey," he says, unsure of what else to say._

 _She smiles softly, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "Hi."_

" _So," Percy says, his face still completely red._

 _Annabeth raises an eyebrow in which Percy scowls at. "So?"  
_ " _So, are we going to go in," Percy asks, holding out his hand for her._

" _I think we shall," Annabeth says poshly, laughing as she took his hand._

The memory was so good that Annabeth smiled in her sleep. But soon the dream turned into a nightmare, and Annabeth thrashed in her bed.

" _Hello," says someone behind them and they turn around to find a boy with shaggy blonde hair and startling electric blue eyes. He wears a black suit, his tie red as he smiles mischievously at the two._

 _Her heart leaps as she realizes who it is._

 _But her eyes turn to stone when she finds him with her best friend, Calypso, at his side, hugging and kissing her as he looks evilly into her eyes. She wants to scream, call out, do anything to hurt him but Percy is gripping her arm._

" _Don't," he says and he squeezes her hand letting her know that he's there for her, that he isn't leaving, that he'll always be right beside her._

 _Annabeth only then realizes now that the entire dance has evaporated and the only people left are her, Percy, Luke and Calypso, a small storm brewing between them._

" _Luke," she gasps, and he turns to her, an evil glint in his eyes_

" _What," he asks. "You left me. What was I supposed to do?"_

" _You broke up with me," she chokes and to dream Percy's dismay, she inches closer to him. "Why did you break up with me?"_

" _Because I didn't want you," Luke says coldly. "I never wanted you."_

Annabeth claws at him, wanting to hurt, to strangle, to do something to the boy who she loved so much but soon he is made of nothing, she is made of nothing, and she is back on Percy's bed, sweat clinging to her back.

She breathes once, twice, thrice, before she is calm again, keeping her back pressed against the headboard.

She tries to sleep again, but she keeps tossing and turning, not being able to get over that nightmare. She had grabbed Luke, ready to shake him for some answers, the guilt clawing at her throat for being unlovable, but he had disappeared, found a new girl and left before she could say anything.

That seemed to be the case whenever it had to do with Luke.

She sighed, getting out of bed from her fruitless attempts at trying.

She hoped the Jackson's wouldn't hate her too much as she stole some of their blue food, hoping that would help with her sleep.

"Stealing food now are we," a voice said behind her. She swiveled around to find an amused Percy, looking at the blue pineapples she had stolen. He shook his head, clicking his tongue in a disapproving manner. "I do hope California didn't teach you any of these tricks."

She rolls her eyes. "Not like I'm a master of it or anything," she says quietly. "Seeing as I did get caught."

"Wow, Annabeth," he says, smirking. "Looks like you aren't the greatest at everything."

"Look, I was hungry okay," she says, annoyed. She plops the food back in its designated position. "Sorry for stealing, or whatever."

His smirk turns into a look of concern. "Couldn't sleep," he asks, and she simply nods.

"Me neither," he says. As an afterthought, he says, "Sleeping on couches isn't the best idea."

"I told you, you could sleep in your bed if you wanted to," she says teasingly.

"Well you can sleep on the couch next time," he says and Annabeth gives him a funny look.

"Next time," she asks, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

She can almost see a faint blush sliding onto his cheeks before he smirks. "Next time," he repeats and winks flirtatiously. "If you want to, of course."

"Shut up," she says teasingly, shoving him away.

He laughs, leaning against the couch. "Maybe next time, we'll sleep together."

Annabeth nearly coughs, giving him an incredulous look. "Maybe then there won't be a next time."

He pouts but doesn't say anything, stretching his legs and patting the couch next to him. "You wanna talk?"

"Talk about what," she asks.

"Talk about what happened," he says, looking at her through his lashes. "When you left."

She sits down, in position to apologize but he stops her. "I just want to know what it's like to live in Cali," he says nonchalantly, but she can hear the strain in his voice when he says, "I hear it's hot."

"It is," she says. "But it's cool, I guess. Not better than New York."

He nods. "Yeah, New York's the best."

She shrugs. "It's home, where else would I want to go?"

He smiles, a soft, genuine smile that takes the breath away from her as he says, "I'm glad you're back."

She knows she doesn't have to whisper, but she does anyway as she says, "I'm glad I'm back too."

He nods, grabbing a blue cookie off the plate. "So, met anyone," he asks, and she flinches of the thought of Luke and Calypso.

She shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant. "Some, I guess." She shoots him a smile. "I'm not Mr. Popular over here."

"Yeah, well," he shrugs, "It pays to be this good."

"That didn't even make sense," she snorts, taking a cookie. "Looks like popular people don't need smarts."

"Hey," he says indignantly. "I'm smart!"

"Hmmm…" she says snarkily, causing Percy to glare at her. She laughs, looking down at her hands.

"Hey, Percy…" Annabeth says uncertainly, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Fire away," Percy says without a second thought.

"Um...is Rachel really important to you or something?" He flinches and she hurries along saying, "She just keeps glaring at me and I have no idea why."

"She's jealous," he says pointedly, and Annabeth cocks an eyebrow.

"Jealous?"

"We used to date," he says slowly, "Back when I wasn't playing every girl known to exist."

Annabeth leans against the sofa, looking at him. "What happened?"

"She's a bitch," is all he says, playing with the threads of the sofa.

"Percy…" she says slowly, eyeing his angry demeanor. "That doesn't answer the question."

"She cheated on me, alright," he answers angrily, balling his fists in the process. He breathes in and out calmly, his shoulders sagging. "She cheated on me and now she wants me back."

"And you haven't forgiven her," she asks him.

"Never in a million years."

She nods, turning away from him to look at the black tv in front of her. "Is that why you do it?"

He looked at her questionably, even though he already knows what she's talking about. "Do what?"

"Sleep with girls."

He sighs as if he knew this topic would come up, ruffling his hair. "To tell you the truth," he laughs bitterly. "It's just so much easier."

She raises an eyebrow. "Easier?"

"To not become attached," he says quietly. "To not get your heart broken."

She nods once more, understanding what he's saying as she asks, "Did you tell your mother?"

He laughs bitterly, looking at her. "I tell her everything."

She smiles. "And what'd she say?"

He sighs. "She told me 'you should've never started dating her.'"

"At least you got a mother to tell you that," she says, remembering the yelling and screaming of her and her step-mother whenever her father or step-brothers were home. "My mom's dead."

He looks at her somberly. "What about your stepmother?"

She almost wants to tell him all about her, about how horrible and shitty she is, how she makes Annabeth feel horrible and shitty but she holds it, instead shrugging nonchalantly. "She's just… not my mom."

He nods, pursing his lips before saying quietly, "I've got a step-father." He sighs, pressing his lips harder before stating, "He'll never be my dad, you know? He'll never be able to fit that role and I hate sometimes how hard he tries like he thinks that I like him and I don't." His breathing is heavy when he says, "He'll never be my dad, and I'll never let him be."

They sit in tense silence and before Annabeth can even think about what she's doing, she grabs his hand and squeezes, reminding them both of the past when they would hold each other's hands in a way to let the other one know _I'm here, we're here, and we are never letting go_ in which the other would squeeze back, a sad smile drifting across their face.

Instead, Percy looks at her, his eyes widened as he says, as quietly as he can, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she says, letting go of his hand. "Now, let's watch a movie."

They didn't mean to have to have a heart to heart at two am, and they didn't mean to end up watching Finding Nemo with too many sweets in a person's hand.

And they certainly didn't mean to fall asleep in each other's arms.

How Annabeth found herself in Percy's car driving to school, joking around about the fact that they had 'slept together' she had no idea. Yesterday, they had hated each other with a mutual passion, both choosing not to talk to one another. Yesterday, they had avoided each other at all costs, not even sitting next to each other in lunch with their other friends.

Yesterday, they would've happily thrown sneer after snarky remark at each other but today, they acted like they were best friends.

And though Annabeth didn't admit it, it felt nice to have him as a friend.

"You so liked it," Percy says now, referring to them snuggling together on a lumpy couch.

"I did not," she says, throwing a skittle candy at him.

"You did," he says, winking. "You just can't admit it."

"Sounds more as if you enjoyed it."

Percy shot her a playful glare, biting his lip as to not smile. "Maybe…" he says mysteriously. "But you liked it more than me!"

"Did not!"  
"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

They continue bickering and laughing until they get to school, Annabeth pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get back into their old pattern like they were ten years old again, getting ready for a school dance.

Percy parks at the school and before he gets out she says. "Thanks, Seaweed Brain."

He looks at her, surprised at the nickname, a slow grin showing on his face.

She can't help but grin back as he says, "You're welcome, Wise Girl," and opens the door for her like a true gentleman.

As if reading her thoughts, he says, "Am I the best gentlemen yet?"

She laughs, shaking her head. "Not in the slightest." And with that, she races to school, making Percy run to catch up to her.

 _Today_ , she thinks as Percy catches up to her, _will be an amazing day_.

And in truth, it already was.

 **Alright, I know… cliche ending, but whatever. I like cliches, don't sue me.**

 **Anyway, hopefully, you enjoyed it! As you can, PERCY AND ANNABETH ARE KINDA SORT OF FRIENDS? YES NO MAYBE SO HAVE TO FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

 **And yeah, sorry for not updating the entire week but hopefully there will be another chapter tomorrow. Probably a lot shorter so if you like short chapters, don't worry, next chapter will be short.**


	9. Chapter 8: Rosebury's

**Hi, I'm sorry for being gone so long! I have been dealing with the stress of school and writers block which have both not been giving me any time to write so I just kinda had to string this together. Anyways, hope you guys like it, sorry for a shorter chapter and I'll try to get another chapter out by tomorrow.**

 **Disclaimer: I sadly do not own any of Rick Riordan's characters. RIP ME.**

Chapter 8: Rosebury's

Percy

 _Percy finds ten-year-old Annabeth sitting on a bench, overlooking the small beach they first met at. He even smiles when he sees the same thing she wore the first day they met; a wrinkly pink sweater with a plain, white t-shirt and cute little flip flops that matched her blue pants. He smiles when he sees her curly blond hair in a ponytail, her swirling grey eyes mixed with too much emotion._

 _He sat down beside her, waving. "Hi," he says, running his fingers through his hair._

" _Hey," she says, her voice cracking at the edges._

 _He swallows when he sees tears in her eyes, and not knowing what to do, waves timidly. "Hey?" He doesn't know why he's so nervous._

 _She smiles weakly and Percy can't stop the butterflies pooling into his stomach. "Hi."_

" _What's wrong," he asks._

" _I don't know," she says._

" _What do you mean?"_

" _I mean," she pushes a bang away from her face. "I don't know what's wrong."_

" _Then why are you crying," he asks, looking at her._

" _I'm not," she says._

" _You are."_

" _Am not!"_

 _He pokes her in the stomach. "You are and you know it."_

 _She giggles, slapping his arm. "I swear I'm not!"_

 _He continues to tickle her and she nearly falls off laughing. "Stop it, Percy!"_

" _Not until you tell me what's wrong."_

 _Wiping her tears, she blushes a bright red. "It's stupid."_

" _Tell me," he pleads. He smiles encouragingly, "I won't think it's stupid."_

" _My dad is getting remarried." She sniffs, wiping her already puffy eyes. "See, I told you it was stupid."_

" _It isn't," he says quickly, grabbing her hand and squeezing. "But why are you sad?"_

" _Because she's mean and cruel and I hate her!" She bites her lip. "And she hates me."_

" _That's not true," he says. "Who could hate you?"_

" _Me," she says quickly. "And my new step-mother." As an afterthought, she says, "She can never be like mom."_

" _Is that why you hate her?" He pushes a strand of hair away from her eyes. "Because of course she'll never be your mother. They don't have the same DNA."_

 _She smiles, leaning into Percy's touch. "You can say that again."_

" _She doesn't have the same DNA?"_

" _She playfully shoves him away. "You're so stupid, Percy." Before he can retaliate, she smiles at him. "But it's okay, cause we're both stupid."_

 _He raises both his eyebrows. "Thanks?"_

 _She just laughs in return._

 _Percy and Annabeth look out towards the ocean and smile when they see the sunset; a mix of oranges and yellows and light reflecting off the sea. The heat makes them breath a sigh of relief; they felt as if they had been cast under a sobbing rainfall and now they were glad it was coming up._

" _I miss her," Annabeth says suddenly, clasping and unclasping her tiny hands. "My mom."_

 _Percy wraps her in his arms. "I know," he whispers. He keeps her in his arms as they watch the sunset slowly dim into nothingness._

Percy is in complete bliss.

His mother gives him a weird look when she sees his tousled hair and his boyish grin. He's even happier when she doesn't mention it. He didn't want to have to tell her about Annabeth; when they were younger, Percy's mother had always loved the thought of him and Annabeth together. He would never mention that they were friends, _only friends_ , or the fact that when be was younger he had a small crush on Annabeth. It wouldn't matter anyways. Love was utter crap and he would never fall in love again.

Not after Rachel.

His happiness dimmed by the mention of her name and he gets ready in silence, slinging his bag around his shoulder and heading out the door.

School was somewhat enjoyable, which seemed to surprise Percy more than the rest of his classmates. Percy smiled, actually smiled, and talked sincerely with the people around him. He had his homework complete, his and Annabeth's project was incredible, he even raised his hand for one of the questions. He couldn't help but grin; his best friend was rubbing off on him.

But then the gleam in his eyes died, his face looked ashen and he had to breathe in deeply to hold the terrors filtering in his mind. His mother being terrorized by Gabe, the look in Gabe's eyes when he saw his mother when he saw _him_ , the toothy grin he showed whenever he was about to ruin Percy's day.

The first time he slapped Percy.

He can still feel the palm of his hand against his face, the loud smack that echoed through his apartment building, the puncture of the blow forcing tears out of his eyes, the screams, the blood, how scared he was…

He opened his eyes, slumped in his chair and looked out the window. The glass was trimmed perfectly, the trees grown at the exact height, the sky had barely any clouds. Percy cursed the world for being perfect on a day where he didn't feel perfect but it didn't matter: everyone thought he was. And the worst part was, the school's bad boy wanted to be. He wanted to be helpful, and nice, and a brainiac, for once he wanted to be someone not him. He wanted to be anyone else but him.

He felt relief at the thought of finally dropping the act; showing who he truly was.

But not everyone was convinced of his change of heart, mainly his cousin, Thalia Grace.

"What's up," she asks after leaving her class, slamming Percy's locker abruptly.

"What the hell, Thalia?" He was pissed; he just had a discussion with Ms. Dodds about his behavior and he didn't need any more sass from his cousin who knew nothing about him.

"Glad to see you're still there," she smirked, as she moved back to let him into his locker. "But you seem to have everyone else fooled."

"Yeah?" He scoffed. "Like who?"

"Annabeth."

He nearly bumps his head against the locker. "Annabeth who?"

Thalia crosses her arms around her chest. "How many Annabeth's do you know?"

He winks. "Too many." Then, "what does she have to do with this?"

"Something happened with you two." She eyed him wearily. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing," he chirped. He then grabbed his things, slamming the locker once more. "Now, I gotta go so, like, see ya later, cuz." Before he could leave, she put a hand on his arm, dragging him back to her. He sighs, "what do you want?"

"Stay away from Annabeth."

"Why," he asks as he raised both his eyebrows and leaned against the lockers. "Afraid, Grace?"

"More like concerned," she says, glaring at him. "I don't want you to hurt her."

"Well, don't be," he says, in the most reassuring voice he has. "I won't hurt her."

She narrows her eyes at him. "You know, Percy? I just can't seem to believe that."

"Goddamnit, Thalia, I won't hurt her, alright? I mean, is it that hard to believe?" He threw his arms up, strands of hair falling in his eye. "I won't hurt her, alright?" He looked into her eyes, imagining her electric blue eyes turning into grey eyes, her spiky black hair brightening into blonde curls. "I promise you, I won't hurt her." Much quieter, he said, "I would never hurt her."

He moves to leave, his heart beating from the words he had just spoken but Thalia pulls at his arm one more time. He looks and swallows when he sees the somewhat raw emotion painted across her face.

"Why," she says quietly, looking away from his demanding look.

He shakes his head, a confused look on his face. "Why what?"

"Why her and not everyone else?" Thalia winced at her desperate voice and guilt claws at his throat. Maybe they weren't the best friends but they were family and family wasn't supposed to hurt each other like this. They weren't supposed to hurt each other at all. She finally looks at him and all the words she wanted to say are being said by her look; unshed tears stinging in her eyes. He bit his lip and felt the metallic taste of blood on his lips. He tasted it a lot. "Why hurt Paige, and Piper, and Silena, and Drew, and Jessica, and _everyone_ except for her? Why do you only care about her?" A small tear falls down her face and she quickly wipes it away. "You think I like seeing my cousin do these things to my friends? You think I enjoy being thrown away because I was _worried_ about you? Do you think I enjoy any of this?"

She looks at him with so much disappointment that the pain nearly makes his knees buckle. She looks away from his defeated look, swallowing a little before sighing and putting her hands to her head. Percy swallows as well, adjusting his stuff in his hands. Finally, she looks at him, a blank expression on her face. Her words are bitter and fierce when she says,"You got anything to say for that, Kelp Head," and that's when he truly knows that Thalia Grace hates him, and that she'll never stop hating him.

He looks at her expression, trying to discover what she's hiding, what pain she's keeping a secret. He couldn't find anything so he looked down at his worn out sneakers before sighing and looking at Thalia, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. "Pardon me," he says. Then, "I have to get to class." The words tremble and break in his clutches, like he just tore a piece of his heart and ripped in it half right in front of her.

She doesn't say anything, barely even blinks, as he walks past her, slightly stunned by their conversation. He doesn't have to imagine her hurt face, he thinks as he continues walking, tightening his grip on his backpack, he's already seen it too many times.

Rachel was annoying him as always.

"C'mon babe," she purred, wrapping her arms around his and leaning into his body. "Why are you being like this?"

Usually he would be turned on by this; usually it would be much harder to push off her but Thalia's words kept playing on a loop in his head, like a rollercoaster in his mind that wouldn't stop; it would never stop.

So, he pushed her off like usual, liking the way it was easier to do than before. "I need my space, Rachel. Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I don't think you're a guy who wants to be alone." Oh, she had no idea. "Seriously, Perce," she leaned into his ear, her breath tingling against his skin. He shivers uncontrollably and she smirks, whispering, "you know you want me."

"I'm sure he doesn't," cuts in a voice behind them, an amused smile on her face. He can't stop the smile that molds onto his face when he sees her. But she isn't looking at him, instead at the redhead in front

of her with a small smirk playing on her face.

"Why would you say that," Rachel says, tilting her head to the side. "He isn't yours, is he?" He soon realizes this is a bad idea and evidently so can Annabeth since she hesitates before saying, "No." Then,

"No, I guess not. But aren't you technically the ex-girlfriend?"

Rachel grits her teeth, her eyes shining with anger. "For now," is her curt response as she turns away from Annabeth, letting out a loud 'hmmp' to add to her point.

He looks at her and writes something on a piece of paper.

 _Jealousy is a bad look on you, Annie._

She writes back quickly. _Don't call me Annie or jealousy won't be the only bad look on me._

His eyes widened as he draws a stick figure guy with his hands up in surrender. She smiles, takes the paper back and adding a tutu to the man. He grins and she grins back.

Before he can take the paper back, Annabeth writes: _I'm not jealous, by the way._ He can't make out the scratch marks and the cross outs she made and reads the next eligible line, _I just know someone like her._

He wants to ask her who but something about the way she's looking at him shows that he should just drop it while he can. So, he drops his eyes, looking back at the teacher as the unquestioned question hangs between them.

Rosebury's was a quiet diner where most teenagers went to for studying or a quick drink. Percy remembers going when he was a kid with his mother and her allowing him to get anything he wanted. This was one of the only place that gave him blue food and the workers all knew him. He liked when they called him a regular; it was nice to be apart of something that actually wanted him; who would always be there with a blueberry smoothie whenever he was having a bad day.

So, when he came in there and got his order, he was surprised to see another familiar face, buried in her book, her blond curls almost putting up a barrier between her and the world. He remembered the smaller girl who stayed in the rain with him for six hours, the girl that tried to braid his hair, the girl who he saw on the beach, crying, and before he even knows what he's doing, he's sitting in the seat opposite her.

"What happened," he asks and Annabeth nearly jumps, looking at him. "Did the library close down?"

"Oh God," she says, placing one hand on her heart. "Percy, you nearly scared me." She laughs a little, getting rid of the nerves before raising an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing here?"

He nearly laughs. "What am I doing here? I could be asking you the same thing."

"Well, the library closed down," she says, putting her bookmark in her book. Taking a sip of her tea, she asks, "What about you? No swimming practice or something?"

"Or something," he says, shrugging. He takes a gulp of his smoothie, abandoning his straw all together. Annabeth chuckles and he looks at her quizzically. "What? What's wrong?"

"There's-well, there's-" Percy wipes his upper lip and Annabeth wrinkles her nose. Seeing this, he rolls his eyes, looking at the book on the table.

"Whatcha reading," he asks, pointing to the book.

"A book." She studies him carefully. "I think you might like it."

"Hmm, okay."

Silence.

Annabeth looks out the window, at the perfect day, and Percy can't stop staring at Annabeth. At how pretty she is, at how her blonde curls blow in the wind, at her sparkling grey eyes that study everything as if everything is worth her time, her personality that makes him wish she was always there; that she never left. Before he can even go there, to what the butterflies mean in his stomach, her phone rings. A shrill, loud ringing that breaks them from the moment that happened between them.

He sees a blonde boy with startling blue eyes and before he can get a better look at him, Annabeth grabs the phone and shuts it down, her jaws clenched, her eyes widened. When she sees that Percy is watching her, she quickly grabs her book, stuffing it in her bag. "Well, I better get going. My dad will probably be worried and I don't want to make him worry so," she gathers the rest of her things before swinging them onto her shoulders. She gives him a tentative wave, saying a hasty "see ya" before dashing for the door.

Before he can stop himself, he says, "Annabeth." She turns around, trembling at the phone call she just received and Percy tries to give her a tentative smile.

"What," she asks, taking a step forward. "What's up?"

Once again, his mind is not speaking for his mouth as he quickly stammers, "I-I think you should come here for now. I think it's a lot better than the library."

"Why would you say so," she asks, the small of her lip lifting upward. A surge of relief fills him inside as he smirks, the usual Percy smirk, and Annabeth rolls her eyes. But he doesn't miss the small smile she's hiding from him and he realizes she didn't miss the grin that transformed his face.

He doesn't notice he'd been staring at the door for awhile now, a giddy smile on his face, until he notices someone patting his shoulders. "You got it bad, son," Ralph, the owner says, smiling at him. "I don't blame you man. She seems great."

"Yeah," he says, still flustered by her smile, her genuine smile. "You don't know the first of it, Ralph."

The screams, the cries, the thunder, the tears running down her face, blood falling haphazardly across the floor.

That's the house he comes back to at nine at night, when he can barely think anymore.

He sees her, falling, a sharp blade held in the hands of Gabe Ugliano and a small whimper escapes his mouth. He almost can't register it as his knees buckle, and almost as in slow motion, crumbles to the ground.

"What did you do," he asks, his eyes wide with fear and shock. "What did you do to my mother?"

"She's dead," he says, spitting onto Percy's face. He picks up the blade, still dripping the blood. He smiles that toothy crooked smile that makes the back of his hair stand up. "I took your mother's life, and now

I'll take yours!" And then he jams the knife into Percy's neck, blood oozing out of his broken body.

And then the screams, the cries, the last of his adrenaline peeling away from him before he crumples to the floor, rocking his mother's body with his as blood pools faster and faster from his wound and then the lights flicker off.

Then on.

Then off.

It flicker once more

and then

he was dead.

 **And then he was awake.**

Suffocating under his covers and of his lies and of his failures and of Gabe, the biggest failure of them all.

He shuddered, closing his eyes and breathing slowly, trying desperately to go back to sleep.

He doesn't.


	10. Chapter Nine: Too Many Problems

**Heyyyy, sorry for no chapter in so long, I've just been dealing with writer's block, which sucks. Sorry for the short chapter as well, I am just getting out of it and my creative juices just weren't flowing today. Hope you enjoy! There's not much Percabeth in this chapter because I have to discuss Annabeth's more pressing problems including Thalia, Annabeth's family, and even Luke. Don't worry, there will be more Percabeth in the next chapter! Anyways, let's get back to the story, and I know I don't say this often so I just want everyone to know if you don't, that I am thankful for your comments every single day! You guys have literally given me a purpose and your comments make me cry with joy when I read them! SO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT, REALLY YOU GUYS MAKE IT ALL WORTH IT. HOPE, IF YOU GUYS CELEBRATE, A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!**

 **I sadly DO NOT own Percy Jackson or any of his characters!**

 **ALRIGHT, BACK TO THE STORY.**

 **Also, last minute refresher, all italicized words will be either Annabeth's flashbacks, text messages, or thoughts. (Should elaborate that most of these thoughts are either internal conflicts where she has like, "another voice" inside her brain that argues and advises her on her life decisions).**

Chapter Nine: Too Many Problems

Annabeth:

"Percy," Annabeth squealed as he pushed her under the water. Eleven-year-old Percy looked up at her and grinned making her heart do somersaults. She had always had these feelings for him ever since she was eight and he kissed her on the cheek after he bravely climbed a tree. But now these feelings were new, her crush growing into something she couldn't control and suddenly, she almost doesn't want to control it. She just wants to take wings and soar above everyone else, hoping she can bring others along for the ride.

"How's the water, Annie," he teased from the dry sand. She gritted her teeth. It wouldn't have mattered whether she forced him in as well: he was a natural swimmer. She, however, was struggling.

"I swear to God if you say Annie one more time water won't be the only thing you'll be feeling!"

"Aw An-" he clamped his hand over his mouth, horrified. Then, "Annabeth, darling, I'll come in if you want me to."

"Annabeth darling," she muttered to herself but Percy was already catapulting into the ocean, his slim frame reflected in the water.

He splashes her and she splashes him, and they make handstands underwater. They play with childlike toys and make silly faces under the ocean. They were childish, yes, but they liked it that way.

Carefree and relaxing and like the universe was on their side.

And away went the memories of death, of her stepmother, screaming, in the nights when Matthew and Bobby would fall asleep in her room with stray tears in their eyes. The scars and marks they pretended to hide, the glass shards of beer haphazardly skewered in every direction. It was no wonder they never had any family pictures. There was no family; at least, not a happy one.

Annabeth missed a step when the waves come and they seized her frail body, pulling her down. She panicked as she spiraled down, her legs tried to hit the ground but they were too short to do so. She felt fear grip her veins and course through her body as she can barely hold her breath, her eyes widened. She thrashed and screamed underwater, the sounds muffled in her ears.

She heard someone shouting, though maybe she was dreaming, and then Percy pulled her out, his eyes filled with concern. He gets down on his bare knees and shakes her - once, twice, maybe even three times - before she starts shaking, a small tear falling down her cheeks.

"Percy," she chokes, and he wastes no time drawing her to his chest, letting her curl up inside of him. He squeezes her hand once, and she knows that he's there, that he'll do anything to stop this pain that she feels and then she's crying heavily like the shock has finally lifted and the embarrassment has settled in.

He keeps holding her in place, not saying a word, but only gripping her tighter as if to say, 'I'm not going anymore.'

She squeezes his arm back.

'I'm glad.'

"Hey," Thalia says when she sees Annabeth at her locker.

"Hey," she says.

"Where did you go yesterday? I couldn't reach you." Annabeth shrugs, but secretly she's trying to hide her smile as she remembers going to Rosebury's and seeing Percy, sweet, sweet Percy, nothing like what he was like before.

Maybe there's more to Percy than she thought there was.

Or maybe, he was just not showing all sides of himself, locking them away in a place he intended to never show anyone else. A place Annabeth so desperately wanted to see.

Thalia looks at her face for a second before shaking her head, leaning against the locker. "Nevermind. I don't know if I want to know. "

She blushes, hitting Thalia's shoulder. "Nothing happened!"

"Something happened," Thalia counters before looking at Annabeth and smirking. "I just don't want the details."

Annabeth blushes even harder.

She's about to say something when the crowd hushes themselves, turning around to gawk at their classmate, Percy Jackson. She can't stop the smile that spreads across her face when he meets her eyes. There is a familiar glint in his mischievous eyes as he grins back before laughing at something Jason said. She can't help but compare his mischievous look to Luke's - the glint in the blue eyes shows mockery, deception, manipulation, while Percy's is good-natured. She shakes her head as if to clear her thoughts, trying to snap out of it.

He is in a mid-laugh when he turns to look at her at one point and she bites her lip to keep from smiling or from commenting something she would regret later.

She hears someone coughing but it seems faded, muffled, her mind caught on a loop of Percy's smile. His real smile.

"Ahem," says Thalia, "Earth to Annie? Hello? Anyone in there?" Annabeth's mind finally clears as she turns around to look at Thalia.

"Yes," she asks, raising an eyebrow.

Thalia is about to say something when the bell rings and she swears under her breath. "C'mon, we don't wanna be late." She grabs her backpack but as she swings it around her shoulders, her shirt rides up her stomach where she can see a strip of her skin. Her tan skin now seems more purplish, as if it shoved into something.

Annabeth nearly trips on her feet.

"Thals," she says slowly. Thalia looks at her and Annabeth points to the skin. "What is that?"

Thalia is quick to hide the mark, her fingers quickly pushing the fabric down. "Nothing."

"Thalia," she says, this time quieter making it sound threatening. Thalia flinched. "What the _hell_ is that?"

"Annie, just let it go, okay? Sometimes I'm fucking stupid."

"Thals-"

"Just let it go, alright? I'm fine, Annie. I'm alright." And with that, she walks off to class.

Annabeth is late to math, and Mrs. Dodds gives her the stink eye while she walks to the seat in the back. She can't stop thinking about the bruise, replaying the scene over and over. She's seen the bruises on herself and every time she sees them, she wishes they weren't real. If only Thalia could talk to her; if only Thalia could trust her. But she knows better than anyone it isn't about trust it's about consequences and the repercussions of ever telling a secret better untold. Annabeth, for all her planning and her outlines and her lists, has no clue how to get her and Thalia out of this situation.

Somehow this reminds her of Luke when she finally opened up to him.

She should've never trusted him.

His sick features, his handsome smile, his beautiful tan skin, his blue eyes that she felt like she was drowning in…

Stop it, her mind said. Stop torturing yourself.

But I don't know how she answers back in her head.

You'll find a way, her mind said but she isn't so sure.

She's so lost in thought that she almost misses the tap that she gets from Percy. He passes her a piece of a paper with the scrawled message are you okay? on it.

She takes the paper from him, writing sure but then scratching it. She instead writes I don't know.

What happened, he writes back.

Too much. She passes the paper back to him.

It takes him a while to pass back a message but when he does, the only thing he puts is:

I know. And somehow she knows that he truly does.

Annabeth is about to talk about what happened during lunch but when she sits down and sees Thalia's face brimming with happiness, she knows she can't bring it up right then. Thalia has never seemed so excited and in school, you would never see a smile so huge on someone's face. Unless you were Annabeth, in which case, everything school-related seemed irresistible.

"What are you so excited about," Annabeth asks and Thalia's face finally breaks the giddy expression she's been hiding.

"Mrs. McCarthy gave me an A on my essay!"

Annabeth smiles and gives her a thumbs up before evaluating what Thalia said. Since when did Thalia care about her grades?

As if Thalia can guess what she's about to say, she shrugs. "I just wanted to have good news for once."

Annabeth rolls her eyes, a small smile breaking across her face. "Thals, you always have exciting news."

"Not as exciting as yours," she says, smirking. "What happened between you and the great Percy Jackson today?"

Annabeth smiles but tilts her head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know," Thalia says slyly, leaning back in her seat. "You tell me."

"My lips are sealed."

"So, something did happen between you two?"

Annabeth sighs, taking a bite of her ham sandwich. "Why do you care anyways," she asks, not meeting Thalia's gaze. "I thought you hated him."

"I do," she says. "But that doesn't mean you do."

Annabeth blushes, taking a swig of her water to cover the redness. If Thalia sees it, she doesn't ask about it. Instead, she just folds her arms across the table and gestures for her to continue.

Annabeth sighs. "We're just friends. Nothing more."

"And?" Thalia wiggles her eyes. "Friends with benefits? C'mon girl, give me something!"

Annabeth nearly chokes on her water. "Friends and nothing more! Did you not hear what I just said?"

"I did," she says and smirks. "But I didn't believe a single thing."

Annabeth shakes her head, taking another bite of her ham sandwich. "So," she says, chewing on the bread. "What's up with you?"

Thalia looks at her questioningly. "What?"

"Like," Annabeth taps her finger on her chin once more. "Anything exciting other than that A?"

"Nope," she says, starting to eat her grapes. "Nothing special."

"C'mon Thals," Annabeth persists. "There's gotta be something."

Thalia slams the fork into the grape, stabbing it dead center. She shrugs. "Nothin' to report here, madam."

Annabeth raises an eyebrow. "Thals, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Thals," Annabeth says in a warning tone. "What's up?"

"Nothing, seriously. Don't worry about me."

Annabeth gives her a weird look but doesn't say anything.

Thalia coughs before breaking the tense silence. "So… tell me."

"Tell you what?"

Thalia motions to Annabeth's face. "Today, you were all like, happy or whatever, when I asked you what you were up to. You never answered."

"I thought you didn't want to know?" Annabeth grins and Thalia glares back at her.

"Well, now I do! It's been eating at me all day!"

"Well," Annabeth says a little dreamily and Thalia rolls her eyes. Annabeth laughs before proceeding to tell her everything that happened at Rosebury's. When she's done, Thalia looks flabbergasted.

"He… did… _what?_ " She looks stunned.

Annabeth can't stop the big smile from spreading across her face and before she can cover it up, Thalia nearly jumps out of her seat and points at her blushing best friend. "I can't believe you talked to him-" she points to Percy- "and he didn't steal your virginity! How did that…?"

"Uhh, Thalia," Annabeth's face becomes even redder as she remembers the night, still one of her favorite nights despite the fact that she wishes it wasn't. "I've already lost my virginity."

Thalia's jaw dropped before a small smirk formed on her face and she wiggles her eyebrows. "Was it with Percy?"

Annabeth laughs, shaking her head. "Nope! And I'm never telling you who."

Thalia groans but Annabeth can't stop the memories of her and Luke - everything about the night it happened. How she regretted every moment even when, in that moment, she felt like she was in heaven. It was a week before she was moving, a week before she knew she was about to leave the love of her life, the man she used to love.

She had just gotten into a huge argument with her stepmother about god knows what and before she knew it, she was running as fast as she could, away from her dysfunctional family and towards Luke, where she would feel safe. She always felt safe around Luke, at least she used to.

" _Ugh, she just drives me insane," Annabeth remembers saying after Luke lets her into his room. "I mean, why did my dad even marry her?"_

 _"Maybe it made him happy," Luke had said but Annabeth had just thrown that thought away._

 _"They fight every night, Luke. You should see them, fighting like cats and dogs. They make Matthew and Bobby scared, hell, they make me terrified. It's just so frustrating and…"_

 _"Hey, hey," he gently lifts her face to meet his dazzling blue eyes and she is momentarily speechless at how beautiful his face is, how beautiful he is in general. Swallowing, Luke says, slightly breathless, "You're going to get through this, alright? I promise you, I will never leave you."_

 _A small tear falls from her eye and Luke wipes it away, smiling a sad smile at_ _her. "I don't care how many days you stay over - dad will just be at work like he has always been." He takes her arms in his and makes her dance with him to nonexistent music. She laughs a little and he smiles, looking straight into her eyes. "We can get takeout pizza, or try to make something even though the last time you did you nearly burnt my entire kitchen."_

 _"I was a beginner," Annabeth said, trying to defend herself. "Cooking is hard!"_

 _Luke cracks a smile and Annabeth can't help but smile back. "We'll sit back and binge-watch Friends over and over again until you feel better, and you'll help me with my homework to make sure I never fail. You can stay here as long as you need, bring the twins if you want._

 _He swallows once more, never looking away from her face as they sway to the music of their voices, of their thoughts, of the possibilities. "I love you, Annabeth. I have always loved you and I will never stop loving you. You are apart of my family, apart of my life, apart of me and I would be heartbroken if you ever left me. Please," He starts before leaning towards her ear, and saying, "never leave me."_

 _She tried to nod, tried to say anything, but was too stunned by the seriousness in his voice that she breaks down, letting his strong arms hold her in place._

 _"It's okay, Annie," she remembers his voice, soothingly, rubbing circles across her back."Everything's gonna be alright." She looks up at him and without meaning to, she kisses him a sad, desperate kiss. He kisses her back gently, tasting her tears against her lips. He pulled away and asked if it was okay if this was alright if she was okay, but his voice falters by her hands dragging across his skin as she pushed him back into the bed._

Five days later, she told him the news. And the day she left, like changing her out for a new pair of jeans, he already had a new girlfriend at his side.

She's snapped out of her memories by Thalia's wave of her hand in front of her face. When Annabeth looks at Thalia, something about her face makes Thalia's smile fade. A concerned look transformed her face as she asks, "Are you alright?"

Annabeth takes a deep breath before nodding, but she doesn't look convincing as Thalia raises both her eyebrows. Annabeth sighs, rolling her eyes, before smiling a more convincing smile. "Of course, Thals. I'm always alright."

Annabeth continued their conversation, not noticing Percy staring at her, his eyes glued to her face with a mix of worry and curiosity.

The calls and texts have been nonstop.

All of her friends back in California, whether part of the accident or not, have tried to reach her and it is becoming increasingly hard to resist pounding her phone into concrete, stabbing it with her feet and burning it until she can also melt the remaining memories of California.

She doesn't want to remember.

She isn't doing well and even though she tries to hide it, everything in New York reminds her of Luke. She wonders if she'll ever get over him or whether he can stop trying to reach back into the stems that root into her body, try to pull at the weeds when all he's doing is pulling at the plant. She wants to grow, but they can't seem to hear her screaming her cries to stop; she almost wants to type in whatever she's feeling.

 _Can't you see me, can't you see that I don't want to talk to you?_

 _Please leave me alone._

 _I'm not ready to talk yet._

 _I'm not ready to forgive you yet._

 _Can't you see you're poisoning this plant?_

 _Can't you see I'm poisoning yours?_

She should've blocked them, should've stomped on the memories of California and let them burn in a place she would never find their remnants.

But the memories suffocated her before she could run from them and now, she can't help but continuously read their desperate texts.

 _Annie, I know you're there._

 _Annie, please talk to me._

 _Annabeth, PLEASE, I would do anything to hear your voice._

 _I'm sorry, will you forgive me?_

 _I made a mistake._

 _Tell me what to do to fix it._

 _There is nothing you can do,_ she wanted to respond, _you already made your choice._

She almost sent that to him.

Almost.

But instead, she sat there quietly before pulling the covers over her head and closing her eyes despite the fact that she knew she was never going to sleep.

And as the moon shone through her windows, and the black sky stared hauntingly at her, she knew she was right.

Annabeth steps into Rosebury's at 5:08 exactly, setting her books carefully at the back booth that rests right beside a glass window. She sits facing the door so that she can wait for Percy. The problem was that he never gave her a specific time to revisit so he left her sitting in a small booth waiting for a guy she wasn't even sure was coming or not. She shrugs this off, deciding that she can get at least some reading in.

After an hour, the wait finally pays off.

When she sees who's quietly sat in the seat across from her, she can't help but smile. He can't either. "I can't believe you actually showed up."

She raises an eyebrow. "Why would that be a surprise?

He shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe you were missing all the books."

She smiles sadly. "I've been around books my whole life. You, however," she blushes as she shrugs her shoulders. "Well, you know how that turned out."

Percy scratches the back of his neck, and she can almost see a blush bloom on his tan skin. "Well," he says, and when he looks at her with so much sincerity she feels her heart stop. "You're here now, so let's talk."

She smiles back, tilting her head to the side. "Whatcha wanna talk about?"

"Let's start from the beginning."

And they did.

Percy told her the aftermath of her leaving, of his new friends and how funny they were and how he became crying heavily friends with them. He talked about his love for blue food and swimming and how he doesn't like having serious relationships with any girls. He talked about his dyslexia, how his mom is helping him and how he's also trying to overcome his ADHD. He talked about how his mom was doing fine and that, while there were some struggles, life couldn't get any better.

But it almost sounded too perfect.

He seemed almost reluctant to say all of this like he wasn't sure if it was okay to lie to his former best friend but not sure how to say anything else. He sounded like he wanted to scream at the top of his like he wanted the words from his head to flow through his mouth like he was questioning himself whether he should tell the truth or not. It looked like he really wanted to tell her everything and yet, he was blocked off by this barrier, like this electric fence. He lied to her and as much as that made her angry, she understood his thought process.

And so she did the same.

She talked about the trip, about her "wonderful" stepmother and her "amazing" friends, leaving out their names or how she was trying to avoid them. She told him about her dad and her step-brothers, her old teachers and how she was living a happy, perfect life.

She could tell that he knew it was all a lie; they knew each other too well to fake it. Some things change between friends, from their personality to their tendencies, but she could tell that Percy 2.0 was still somewhat the Percy she knew from back then. His hands twisting within each other to show his nervousness, his unwillingness to meet her gaze, and the flinches he makes whenever he talked about his family. She could also see that when she lied to him; he looked as if he was assessing her, studying her, speaking to her in words that she couldn't communicate back to him. She wanted to confide in him, to tell him all of her secrets, to lean on his shoulder and feel his arms wrap around her, whispering "everything's alright, everything will be alright" too many times that she ends up believing it. She wanted him to squeeze her hand and tell her that it was going to be fine, that he was right there with her, but she's not sure if she's ready for his sorrowful eyes, his open hugs, his small smiles that made her heart stop.

She wants to tell him and yet she's not sure how she was never good at talking about her feelings. She hid it for so long, all the bottled up emotions, that she's not sure how to talk about it; she's not sure how to communicate a story that she has never told anyone.

And yet she wants him to call her out on her lies; for her to do the same.

But instead, he smiles a toothy grin. A grin that doesn't reach his eyes. "Well," he says at last, "That sounds like a fun trip."

And then the conversation was over.

Percy got up from the seat and sent her a little wave. "Glad we talked things out."

"Me, too."

"So, uh, I gotta go now." He awkwardly waves before hooking his thumb lamely towards the door. "But, uh, I'll see ya later?"

She smiles, reciprocating his awkward wave. He glares at her and she laughs. "See ya later, Seaweed Brain."

As soon as she says this, she clasps her hand to her mouth. She thinks Percy will strangle her, at the very least yell at her, but he just looks as shocked as she is. Then he smiles, one of his soft smiles that makes her heart stop, and says, "See ya later, Wise Girl."

And then he's gone, the door swinging shut behind him.

Her phone rings, pulling her out of the moment as she picks it up.

She groans, slamming her phone back on the table.

 _Luke, of course. It was always Luke._

She wakes to the sound of her dad and stepmother yelling and groans, rubbing her eyes to clear her vision. She tries to cover her ears from the screams and the shattering of glass, using a pillow to muffle their voices.

It doesn't work.

She screams into the pillow.

The screams become heightened, and she can almost feel the words physically impale her like a stab in the back.

Married couples are supposed to be in love with each other. They're supposed to be the people who dance with you at dawn, supposed to stay up late telling childhood stories with a drink of wine. They're supposed to talk all day, and talk about their families when they get the chance.

They're supposed to bring you food when one is stuck with a fever, and they aren't supposed to leave each other no matter what.

They're supposed to be in love with each other. They're supposed to be happy.

She hears another glass bottle break against the walls and sobs erupting through the cracked house, and she suddenly feels suffocated, like the blankets are choking her, strangling her with the screams and cries springing from hall to hall, echoing every which way. The walls, despite their patches and their paint, seem to crumble against the sobs until the rooms are the only thing that seems to be holding it together while the rest of them collapse.

The door gives a small groan and when she looks up, she sees a teary-eyed Bobby and Matthew peek their heads in. Wordlessly, they close the door behind them and come to sit next to her in her cotton sheets that make up the tattered remains of her heart.

Annabeth doesn't realize she's crying until Bobby touches her skin, wiping the stray tear from her eyes. Annabeth tries for a laugh, but it comes out as more of a sob and then Bobby and Mathew start to cry and Annabeth pulls them in for a big hug, letting their sobs stay hidden in the darkness and in their hushed voices.

Annabeth pulls them closer to her and so do they.

In their huddle, with the tears intertwining with the others, their sobs mingling with each other as if in a dance, they almost can't hear the angry responses and the yelling that seems to echo through their broken house.

Almost.

She doesn't remember when but in the morning when her stepmother wakes Annabeth, she discovers Matthew and Bobby snuggled next to her in the bed sheets covered over their ears to drown out the noise of everything else.

 **Sorry for the depressing ending, I just had to show how dysfunctional this family is, and how they are all unhappy. Also, I do not ship Lukabeth or whatever, but I just wanted to show why she fell in love with him and show that he did care for her. And I actually do like Luke so hint… if you listen to his story, which you will, you will realize he's just as flawed as everyone else. I don't know, just my thoughts and stuff. I love misunderstood characters or just generally broken people because it shows that even when they are going through so much, they can push through, day in and day out. Anyways, that's enough of my yapping, hope you liked it!**


	11. Author's Note (very important)

**Hey, everyone! Long time no see!**

 **So yes, this is just an author's note just to explain a lot of stuff, including why I stopped writing this and just never picked it up. Until, like, now.**

 **Well, mostly because of myself. I was held down a lot by myself because there were key moments I had to have to make the story be a good story, I guess. I felt like in these moments, they were supposed to be what made or broke the story. And I just couldn't write it. I knew what I wanted the story to go through, I knew what I wanted the characters to go through, and I knew that I needed to make them right. But I felt like I was writing them completely wrong, I wasn't doing as much to make the scenes as powerful or cohesive as they needed to be for the entire story to work.**

 **So, then I got a little scared I guess, and I never looked at this story since.**

 **And then after awhile of thinking, I thought I should go back and just continue the story, try a different angle, and hey, maybe I would like it? But then I went back and I read the first chapter and, holy cow, it was pretty terrible. Like on a scale of bad to the worst thing I've ever fucking read, I would say it's pretty fucking terrible. I thought maybe I could go along with it, convert some of the ideas that I've had for this story, and shape it into what I've already written. I could edit it up after I was done with it, and then move on from there. But then I figured that I might as well make it as good as possible since there were, and I mean, so many mistakes on all of my chapters. I'm not gonna lie, I cringed. Like, a lot. And none of you kind readers deserved that.**

 **So, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna post this and then go back to edit up the rest of the first ten (I totally forgot I had written that much) chapters and then continue on the story if that's alright with you guys.**

 **I am so sorry for disappearing for like a full year, and I can't guarantee anything, but I can tell you I will try my best to update and edit this story frequently.**

 **Many of you have probably left and forgotten that this was ever made, but for those who can give me another chance, thank you.**

 **I love you all so much and hope you enjoy the story!**


End file.
